NEWSLETTER, 20-X-2015

EVENT: MAKE IN INDIA | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP |  NOV. 23

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INDEX of this NEWSLETTER

INDIA

- GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURE, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

• 1.1. India up 16 places to 55th on global competitiveness index
• 1.2. IKEA Foundation to partner employment project for women
• 2.1.1. Rail to be next reverse innovation from India, J. Immelt
• 2.1.2. Reform bureaucracy to attract investment, J. Immelt
• 2.2. Indian start-ups to see funding worth $5 billion by year end: Nasscom
• 3.1. BIS to develop standards for 43 products under Make in India programme
• 3.2. Rajasthan first state to firm up private investments in affordable housing ; 4 MoUs signed
• 3.3. Rajasthan unveils start-up policy
• 4.1. Centre to invest Rs 70,000 crore ($10.7 bn) in ports in 5 years
• 4.2. Centre considering new rules that could boost Indian shipping, say sources
• 5.1. India's energy mix to have 40% renewable sources by 2030
• 5.2. India To Switch All Its Street Lights To LED In 2 Years

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• 6.1. Mondelez India plans to expand rural ops
• 6.2. Sugar production for 2015-16 estimated at 26 million tonnes
• 7.1. Tata Trusts supports microcredit initiative to fight poverty
• 7.2. Rural youth can bank on finance sector for jobs
• 8.1. Tata Chemicals launches umbrella brand Sampann
• 9.1. Top executives of tech giants pledge support for Digital India initiative
• 9.2. Google to give Wi-Fi access in 500 railway stations
• 10.1. Shri Nitin Gadkari to launch Green Highways Policy
• 10.2. Govt moves to revive stuck road projects

- INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

• 11.1. Chinese companies to invest $5bn in renewable power sector
• 11.2. Chinese firm to set up solar spare parts unit at Achuthapuram Special Economic Zone
• 11.3. Aditya Birla Group teams up with Abraaj for solar plants
• 12.1. Textile machinery industry likely to touch Rs 45,000 cr ($6.9 bn) by 2022
• 12.2. Spacewood attracts 'India's first FDI' in furniture industry
• 12.3. Herman Miller opens production unit in India
• 13.1. Amazon India to expand designer wear store
• 13.2. India to become regional export hub for L'Oreal
• 14.1. Ford firms up plans for made-in-India engines
• 14.2. Ford goes beyond Make in India, will Design in India
• 14.3. Boeing boost for Make in India
• 15.1. Gionee plans to make India its export hub
• 15.2. OnePlus partners Foxconn to assemble smartphones in India

-          SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

• 16.1.1. Tata sees digital, solar driving future business
• 17.1.1. India can surpass US & China as Uber's biggest market: Travis Kalanick CEO & co-founder, Uber
• 17.2.1. Uber's Indian innovations go worldwide
• 17.3.1. Kotak rolls out mobile banking app with no Internet
• 18.1.1. Multi-billion dollar opportunity awaits India IT companies
• 18.2.1. Indian IT companies among world's worst paymasters
• 18.3.1. ICICI Bank launches mVisa-based mobile payment service
• 19.1.1. IndiGo named CAPA low cost carrier of the year at World Aviation Summit
• 19.2.1. Delhi airport handles record flights
• 20.1.1. Apollo Hospitals invests Rs 1,400 crore for expansion
• 20.2.1. Micro Labs launches pill made from papaya leaf extract to treat dengue
• 20.2.2. Cipla ties up with Serum Institute to sell vaccines in South Africa
• 20.3.1. Healthcare providers in India to spend $1.2 billion on IT in 2015: Gartner

INDIA & THE WORLD

• 21.1. India to invest heavily in Iran, mega projects to cost Rs 1 lakh crore ($16 bn)
• 21.2. India, Iran and Afghanistan come together for international transit corridor
• 22.1. Bajaj quadricycle gets EU export certification
• 22.2. Bajaj eyes Russian market, begins export of Pulsar
• 23.1. Malaysia proposes to invest US$ 30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India
• 23.2. Bilateral trade between Thailand, India expected to reach US$ 12 billion
• 24.1. Indo-US bilateral trade can touch USD 500 bn by 2025: Report
• 24.2. What’s New in the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue?
• 25.1. World Bank to extend funds to improve sub-urban train services

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NEWSLETTER, 20-X-2015

INDIA 

- GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURE, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1.1.  India up 16 places to 55th on global competitiveness index

PTI | Sep. 30, 2015

GENEVA: In a big jump, India has moved up 16 positions to rank 55th on a global index of the world's most competitive economies, where Switzerland remains on top.

The jump in India's position underlines the country's recent economic recovery, improvement in the competitiveness of the country's institutions and its macroeconomic environment and a "slight improvement" in infrastructure, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its latest Global Competitiveness Report.

Globally, Switzerland has retained its top position as the world's most competitive economy for seventh year in a row and is followed by Singapore, the US, Germany and the Netherlands in the top-five. These are followed by Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden and the UK in the top-ten.

Among emerging economies, India has ended five years of decline with a 16-place jump to 55th position. However, South Africa is ranked higher and it has re-entered the top 50, progressing seven places to 49th.

WEF said that the most problematic factors for doing business in India include corruption, policy instability, inflation and access to finance. The areas where India ranks better were investor protection, gross national savings, quality of education system, venture capital availability, hiring and firing practices, GDP and domestic market size, public trust in politicians and burden of government regulation.

Elsewhere, macroeconomic instability and loss of trust in public institutions has dragged down Turkey (51st), as well as Brazil (75th), which posted one of the largest falls. China, holding steady at 28, remains by far the most competitive among large emerging economies, although its lack of progress moving up the ranking shows the challenges it faces in transitioning its economy, the WEF said.

In terms of competitiveness of its institutions, India is ranked 60th (out of total 140 countries and up 10 positions from last year), while for infrastructure it has gained six places to 81st. For macroeconomic environment, India is ranked 91st, helped by a reduction in commodity prices and improvement in the government's budget deficit.

WEF further said, "To improve further, India must stay the course -- its overall ranking is still hampered by one of the highest budget deficits in the world (131 out of 140)... "(Besides) the quality of its electricity supply which is still too low (91st) and, surprisingly for a country with so many IT champions, the overall technology readiness of its businesses, which comes in at a poor 120, up just one position on 2014."

WEF said its survey of top executives also finds corruption followed by political instability and inflation, as the most problematic factor to doing business in the country.

The Geneva-based think-tank further said a failure to embrace long-term structural reforms that boost productivity and free up entrepreneurial talent is harming the global economy's ability to improve living standards. The study, released today, assesses 140 countries on the basis of factors driving their productivity and prosperity.

1.2.  IKEA Foundation to partner employment project for women

TNN | Oct. 12, 2015 | By John Sarkar

New Delhi: To celebrate the Day of the Girl Child, IKEA Foundation announced a new partnership that aims to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to one million underprivileged women across India.

The three-year programme will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Xynteo and the India Development Foundation (IDF). The programme is approved by India's Ministry of Finance. "We believe that women can be the most important catalysts for change in their children's lives as well as in society more generally. By empowering women, we can improve children's health, education and future - and that's good for everyone in India," said Per Heggenes, CEO, IKEA Foundation.

Even as India has witnessed a decline in women's participation in the workforce by 10 percentage points between 2005 and 2010, recent estimates from the International Monetary Fund suggest that India's GDP could expand by 27% if the number of female workers increases to the same level as that of men.

The three-year programme with a budget of approximately EUR 16 million will focus on Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telengana and the Delhi NCR. The programme will address the demand and supply side of women's employment by securing commitments from businesses in identifying employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women; mobilising women to participate in skills and training courses; and supporting the development of training curricula relevant to aspirations of women and business needs.

2.1.1. Rail to be next reverse innovation from India, J. Immelt

TNN | Sep. 29, | By Shubham Mukherjee & Sidhartha

Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, by his own admission believes the $148-billion conglomerate with a diverse portfolio ranging from light bulbs and power equipment to healthcare and locomotives is witnessing its biggest transformation in history. Immelt, one of the most celebrated CEOs in a company which has been the most scrutinized and applauded in equal measure by students of business as well as management thinkers, recently decided to exit the finance business housed under GE Capital and focus a lot more on industrial internet, big data and software. The software division has a turnover of $6 billion now and the infrastructure engineering behemoth is said to be looking at a top 10 position by 2020.

In India, it's betting big on renewables, healthcare, power equipment and software but perhaps its biggest bet is the railway locomotives contract, for which it's been waiting for over a decade. In India last week to review the company's $2.5 billion operations, the 59-year-old chief executive, who took charge of the company in 2001, spoke exclusively to TOI on the new GE and where India fits into his game plan. 

Excerpts ...

A recent McKinsey report suggests that the 30-year period of unprecedented profits is coming to an end as competition intensifies and technology disrupts the business landscape. So how does GE disrupt itself before somebody else does? Also, what's your vision for the new GE way?

Companies have to be willing to innovate and be brutal about cost at the same time. I want us to have a cost structure that's lower than India and China. Because, if you can't do that, then McKinsey might be right. But I watch company after company that can do one or the other or neither, but very few companies are willing to do both and keep investing in good times and bad recognizing that you are only as good as how efficient you can be.

When I think about the company, I think about four big elements:

The first one is portfolio; so we've just completed Alstom, we are selling GE Capital; we are really defining ourselves as the great industrial infrastructure company of this age.

The second is what I call the GE Store. We have these big horizontal initiatives in technology, globalization services, and things like that make us work. I think India is a prime example where the totality of the company is so much stronger than any individual business.

The third is digital industrial. And I think by and large, industrial companies need to drive more digitization inside their company. But if you look outside the company, you know a new gen engine has 100 sensors on it; a new locomotive is a rolling computer. So we need to be as keen on the analytics and software side as we've been on the material science side.

The last one is just a re-exploration of our culture to say, look in order to do all the above in 175 countries, we have to be leaner, communicate faster, empower people, have faster processes... and so those four things are really what's defining GE today.

What's the rationale of still having healthcare and lighting in your portfolio?

We have never been afraid to sell things or buy things; we've sold almost half the portfolio. When you travel around most parts of the world, healthcare is considered infrastructure and makes society productive. So, in many ways, it's a natural fit. And by the way, it's going to be 20% of the world's economy. I think lighting is a different story completely. If all the lighting was a consumer incandescent business, we would have sold a long time ago. But in the world of LEDs, it's really a high-tech infrastructure, business... it's going to be the lead in terms of how we go after energy efficiency with some of our consumer industrial.

There is a lot of talk around diversity in board rooms and pressure is building on companies around it. What is GE doing on it?

You just have to be committed to being a meritocracy and to being a company where the best people get the best jobs. Just last month we promoted our first woman to be vice-chairman (Beth Comstock) and we just promoted a woman to run the locomotive business (Jamie Miller). So, we have exceptional diversity but it really gets down to meritocracy, not just gender or race or things like that.

When do you foresee a woman taking over as GE CEO, or for that matter someone of an Indian origin?

I never predict things like that, but I would say we have very good talent of both inside the company today. Both are extremely possible in the GE I see today.

GE is going through a transformation in its people policies as well. You have a new appraisal system, bonus policy. Do you think you have been late in catching up when GE usually leads in areas like these?

I think we have always been willing to blow up the company and so I think we are always culturally astute. We are still very outcome-focused, because we are very performance-focused. But we want to make the feedback very contemporary, more constant, more 360-degrees. We don't aspire to be either ahead or behind, we just aspire to be really great. Everybody is working on how you make size an advantage out of a disadvantage. We would like to think we are in the lead in that area.

What kind of reverse innovations are happening from India?

I always believe in India. When we talked about reverse innovation almost 5 years ago, it was really with healthcare in mind. So we are trying to pivot what we learn in India and make it the platform by which we grow the globe of business.

A customer here talked of using invertors between wind and solar technology. His idea is how we can design the product that would be as robust to wind and solar in a medley instead of having two different products. That is a unique idea that could fit almost anywhere in the world. A lot of what we are doing in wind are the things we can sell globally. The rail project, when it goes forward, will be another example of India playing the source of innovation for the global system.

GE has put a big emphasis on big data. But the managers are largely from the old economy ...

If we sit here 15 years from now and 15% of the market cap of S&P 500 is the industrial internet and GE gets none of that, I would consider myself to be a horrible failure. And, in order to do that, to your point, we have to bring in people that know the technology, know the business model, move at the right pace and, that is critical. So the guy (William Ruh) who is showing us the way is from Cisco. I am willing to change the company to do whatever we need to do to win in the industrial internet.

Would you say that this is perhaps one of the biggest transformations in GE's history?

No doubt. I think industrial companies made a mistake 15-20 years ago to say 'software is somebody else's business, and our business is iron'. Today, it is embedded. So, if you are still thinking like you were in the 1990s, you are going to get smoked. And that is not the way we think of where the world is going or the role we have to play in it. It is fundamental to the company and our strategy. And, it is one we can't lose in.

You have talked about being patient in countries like India. Is it your experience with the Railways?

It is the just the way globalization takes place; it comes in spurts. We did a JV with Godrej in 1988 for appliances... then we did the BPO GECIS and the Bangalore Tech Centre. In the last decade, we did a lot around infrastructure, but then we discovered manufacturing. Do I wish I had a magic wand and could make all the reforms that Jeff Immelt and GE would like in India? Sure I do. But that's not the way the systems work. The best companies always find a way to persevere.

Of all your businesses, which are the two or three businesses which you would see growing much faster in India over the next five years?

Rail would be a significant opportunity for a company like GE. I think oil and gas could be an incredible sector for us from virtually zero a couple of years ago. Wind energy is massively growing. Though we have been here a long time with healthcare, it could be a good growth opportunity. And the one that I am not mentioning is the one that is the biggest business in GE - power generation. The fifth one I would add is military aviation. If there is an indigenous fighter, that would be great. India is going to be a big hub for our industrial internet and I would see more software for India as well for us.

And what would this entail?

We are building our own operating system called Predix and so what we would have in India is a more substantial group that is doing applications on the Predix, probably in the power and energy sector.

What are some big changes you'd want to see in India? What are the things that need to move faster?

I think we just have to reform the bureaucracy. The regulation is just not conducive to the massive kind of investment that needs to be made in the country. And as part of that, you just need to open up transparent markets. On the business side, we have to do a better job of creating broader opportunities for more people in India - whether that is through manufacturing or bringing water and healthcare to rural areas. And, I think that those two need to happen more or less at the same time.

The crisis in the Middle East and the slowdown in China are among the factors that could impede growth in businesses. Do you see any other?

We just really live in slow growth and volatile times and that's been true for a long time. So the only kind of balancing force is that the US economy is much better. The Middle East, North Africa, Turkey region is going to have 15% growth this year, one of the highest in the company. Egypt is going to spend $2 billion with us on electricity. So there are opportunities out there if you have real solutions for your customers and for society, and that's what businesses like us have to go out and get.

2.1.2. Reform bureaucracy to attract investment, J. Immelt

TNN | Sep. 22, 2015

New Delhi: GE chairman and CEO Jeffery Immelt on Monday flagged reforming the Indian bureaucracy as one of the biggest changes that he would want to see in the country. At the same time, he is enthused by the steps that the Narendra Modi government has taken to attract manufacturing into the country.

Immelt, who was in the capital on a whistle-stop trip to meet the Prime Minister, told TOI that things are beginning to change but reforming a permanent bureaucracy, such as the one in India, is tough.

"We just have to reform the bureaucracy. The regulation is just not conducive to the massive kind of investment that needs to be made in the country and, as a part of that, you just need to open transparent markets. That's what the government has to do and that's the promise," he said, adding that businesses too have to do their bit to create jobs and improving the quality of life for the people.

Addressing reporters earlier in the day, he outlined top sectors including railways, renewable energy, oil and gas, healthcare and military aviation, which he thought would attract GE's investments into the country. Although Immelt refused to disclose the quantum of investment planned into India, the head of the $148 billion company said, "Four to five big projects can change the face of the company in India... I see more big opportunities now than ever before."

Immelt said the kind of optimism and hope riding on Modi stands out globally and added that sometimes frustration in certain quarters was a result of the huge expectations from the PM, which is at times tough to manage. "There is no perfect environment anywhere. You don't get total perfection in the US, Europe or China."

Although the 59-year-old CEO is upbeat on the growth strategy charted out by the government, he said there was a need for better pricing in the oil and gas sector, besides lowering power subsidies.
DCB Bank hires freshers as 'buddying bankers' and then builds their skills and knowledge through its structured training programmes. However, contrary to what is popularly assumed, talent gets hired at a premium in these cities. "There is a dearth of good middle-level managers in these cities since most have migrated to bigger towns as they progressed in their careers. Most organizations want leaders in those locations to have very strong local market knowledge and network. Thus, they pay higher to find the right fit," said DCB Bank's Vasunia. But this is restricted to certain mid-level and niche positions which come at a premium, Vasunia added. 

Asked if the problems in China are an opportunity for India, Immelt said, "India has a huge opportunity, irrespective of China. For us, it's China and India and not China or India."

Explaining his strategy in the coming years, Immelt said GE would focus on manufacturing, having moved from setting up engineering centres, investing in a BPO and sourcing talent. In addition, the conglomerate is looking at India as a major contributor to its industrial internet business, which seeks to help GE develop in-house capability to meet the software requirements of its businesses. This unit generates around $6 billion revenues annually and is growing at around 20%.

For GE, which has 21 plants in India, including 11 it got as part of the takeover of Alstom, resulting in a combined output of $2.5 billion (over Rs 16,000 crore). Railways is perhaps the single big gest opportunity with Immelt closely watching the outcome of the tender for building a locomotive unit that has been bid out several times in the past but is yet to be awarded. "We have been involved with railways modernization for the fifth time but it is for the first time I think something will happen."

He, however, was unwilling to "put his company at risk" when it comes to entering the civil nuclear energy business, saying the language in the nuclear liability regime needs more clarity.

Asked about enforcement of contracts in India, Immelt said he did not see it as a problem and cited his company's experience with Dabhol, where it took time but the contractual obligations were met.

2.2. Indian start-ups to see funding worth $5 billion by year end: Nasscom

Livemint | Oct. 14, 2015

New Delhi: The Indian start-up ecosystem will see funding worth $5 billion by the year end, according to a latest report by software lobby group Nasscom released on Tuesday. This marks a 125% rise in funding from $2.2 billion last year.

In 2015, 1,200 new tech start-up were born in the country taking the total to 4,200, making India the third largest tech start-up ecosystem behind the US and the UK but ahead of Israel and China.

The number of active investors grew from 220 in 2014 to 490 in 2015, while number of incubators or accelerators grew to 110, 40% higher over last year.

“With 100% growth in number of private equity, venture capitalists, angel investors along with a 125% growth in funding over last year, the Indian start-up ecosystem has risen to the next level,” said the report, titled Startup India – Momentous Rise of the Indian Start-up Ecosystem. A majority of the 1,200 start-ups are business to consumer and are present in segments including e-commerce, consumer services and aggregators.

“The maturing Indian startup ecosystem is now contributing to the Indian economy in many ways. Apart from positively impacting the lifestyles of citizens involved, start-ups are now creating innovative technology solutions that are addressing the key social problems that India is facing and creating significant growth opportunities for every stakeholder,” said R. Chandrashekhar, president, Nasscom.

“To enable the next stage of growth for these start-ups, Nasscom will work closely with the government to ensure ease of doing business, by simplifying procedures and create a conducive environment for these startups to grow,” he said.

The rapid growth of Indian start-ups has created significant growth opportunities for stakeholders—80,000 jobs have been created by the start-ups. However, the report says there is a long way to go before India can catch up with the West.

The software body stressed on the need to ease rules and regulation for registration of a business in India, funding, and simplifying compliance procedures by minimising licenses, permits, approvals and tax for startups.

“Removal of angel tax, simplifying norms for capital raising, enabling easier exit for entrepreneurs and requisite changes in the credit guarantee for loans to start-ups are few recommendations that will further enhance a smoother functioning of the start-ups in India,” the report said.

“India is the youngest start-up nation in the world with 72% of the founders are less than 35 years old, and 50% rise in share of female entrepreneurs in 2015 over 2014,” said Ravi Gururaj, chairman, Nasscom Product Council. “Nasscom has been partnering with the governments for start-up warehouses to create a microecosystem where start-ups and entrepreneurs can work together, share their learnings and best practices with each other. This is fostering an entrepreneurial culture contributing to the increased knowledge, employment and societal wealth.”

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

3.1. BIS to develop standards for 43 products under Make in India programme

Press Information Bureau | Sep. 24, 2015

New Delhi: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has taken up development of standards for 43 products identified by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) for manufacturing quality products in the country under Make in India programme. It has also decided to develop or upgrade standards for basic consumer services like potable water and waste collection & disposal besides revising National Building Code to promote safe and environment friendly construction in the country.

This was informed during the meeting of Governing Body of BIS chaired by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, here today. The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament, representatives of various central ministries and technical experts from different sectors.

Reviewing the performance of BIS, Shri Paswan directed that labs of the Bureau in each state should be upgraded on priority basis and facilities for testing of more products should be arranged. He also asked the BIS to develop or revise standards regarding street food and products of day to day. Mass awareness campaign should also be launched to make people quality conscious, he stressed.

Underlining the importance of transparency in licensing of standards, Shri Paswan asked BIS to encourage industry to adopt self-declaration scheme for adopting standards. He was informed that 250 products have already been notified by the Bureau for this purpose. It was also informed that the roadmap for computerisation of BIS has been prepared to make its all functions and processes IT enabled, Shri Paswan directed BIS to complete the work by March 2016.

Participating in the discussion, Members of Parliament suggested that BIS should arrange promotion of ISI marked consumer products with the help of State Governments, should take up standardization of Ayurvedic products also. They also suggested standards for biodegradable packaging of drinking water and other consumer products should be explored.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

3.2. Rajasthan first state to firm up private investments in affordable housing; 4 MoUs signed

Press Information Bureau | Oct. 14, 2015

New Delhi: Tata Housing to invest Rs.2,000 cr ; NBCC Rs.500cr Shri Venkaiah Naidu lauds the initiative; says will act as light house to other states Rajasthan Government has taken lead in promoting affordable housing by signing four Memoranda of Understanding firming up an investment of Rs.5,400 cr.

These four MoUs were a part of 27 MoUs signed entailing an investment of Rs.12,478 cr in housing and urban development projects in Jaipur today in the presence of Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Smt.Vasundhara Raje Scindhia. These include 14 MoUs for promoting housing projects with an investment of Rs.9,273 cr.

Tata Housing Development Company Ltd has committed to invest Rs.2,000 cr in affordable and mixed use township over an area of 10.12 hectares. Mahima Real Estate Private Ltd has signed MoU with the state government to invest Rs.1,700cr in affordable housing and group housing followed by National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) and Wish Empire who have undertaken to invest Rs.500 cr each in Rajasthan.

The 14 housing related investment projects are expected to provide employment to 26,650 persons. Total employment from the 27 MoUs signed today is expected to be 38,950. Other MoUs related to Medical and Health Care, Education, Industry and Tourism in different parts of Rajasthan.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu complimented Rajasthan for being in the forefront of implementing new urban sector initiatives. He said that the MoUs mobilizing investments in affordable housing will act as light house to others. Shri Naidu further said that Rajasthan was the first state to submit AMRUT action plan to the Ministry of Urban Development, first to identify 40 cities for taking up housing projects under Housing for All Mission in urban areas and the first state to ensure complete convergence in implementing Smart City Mission, Atal Mission (AMRUT), Heritage Mission and Housing Mission.

Shri Naidu noted that there is a new churning and new beginning by urban local bodies and the States since the launch of Smart City Mission and a new enthusiasm to address the challenges of urbanization in the country.

The Minister said that recasting of country’s urban landscape is a challenging task given the inadequacy of basic infrastructure in urban areas which also offered immense investment opportunities. The Minister gave details of the benchmarks and actual availability in respect of basic services pointing out gaps in the range of 31% in respect of toilets and to a high of 96% in case of reuse and recycling of urban waste. Gaps in availability of infrastructure in urban areas:

S.No	Indicator	Benchmark	National average
1.	Coverage of water supply connections	100%	50.20%
2.	Per capita supply of water	135 litres per capita Per day	69.20 lpcd
3.	Extent of metering of water connections	100%	13.30%
4.	Extent of non-revenue water(water being supplied without recovery of charges)	20%	32.90%
5.	Availability of water supply	24 hours	3.10 hours
6.	Cost recovery in water supply services	100%	38.80%
7.	Coverage of toilets	100%	69.50%
8.	Coverage of sewerage network services	100%	12.20%
9.	Adequacy of sewage treatment capacity	100%	5.30%
10.	Extent of reuse and recycling	20%	4.00%
11.	Door to door collection of solid waste	100%	35.00%
12.	Segregation of municipal solid waste	100%	10.80%
13.	Quantity of waste being processed	80%	14.50%
14.	Scientific disposal of solid waste	100%	9.70%
15.	Coverage of storm water drainage network	100%	45.80%

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

3.3. Rajasthan unveils start-up policy

Business Standard | Oct. 12, 2015

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday released the state's first start-up policy to promote entrepreneurship, to loud cheers by aspiring entrepreneurs and students who had gathered in large numbers for a two-day Rajasthan Startup Fest 2015 in Jaipur's Sitapura area.

The start-up policy, unveiled by Raje while inaugurating the event, aims to strengthen the start-up eco-system in the state by setting up 50 incubators/accelerators, supporting 500 start-ups, creating 100,000 square feet of incubation, and mobilising Rs.500-crore angel/venture capital funding in the next five years.

“If Bengaluru is where it all began in start-ups, I can assure you Rajasthan is where it is going to be. It is a very important step in the history of Rajasthan,” Raje said. She said this policy is for five years, but it is open to suggestions and reviews. ‘‘We are giving a baseline policy; nothing is closed. We are also open to the private sector playing a bigger role,'' she added.

Arun Nanda, chairman of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd, in his keynote address at the event, said he would be mentoring three start-ups in the state, while Rajesh Agarwal, managing director at Micromax Informatics, shared how Micromax became one of the top-ten telecom brands globally.

The Startup Fest has been organised by the Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation (RIICO); Startup Oasis, a Jaipur-based incubation centre set up by RIICO, and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

The organiser claimed event saw participation from more than 500 people.

Several start-ups are exhibiting their products at the festival. The event also saw multiple panel discussions and mentoring sessions. “Jaipur is fast becoming the next start-up hub of India, with excellent social and physical infrastructure, low cost of living, large number of technical and professional colleges and proximity to the National Capital Region,” said C S Rajan, chief secretary, the government of Rajasthan.

Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Industries Minister, Rajasthan; Kunal Upadhyay, CEO, CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad; Rajesh Agarwal, Co-founder & Managing Director, Micromax; and Nagaraj Prakasam, Partner, Acumen Fund also spoke on the occasion.

RAJASTHAN START-UP POLICY 2015: HIGHLIGHTS

· # 50 incubators / incubator-like organisations to be established

· # 500 innovative start-ups to be supported and incubated

· # 100,000 sq ft of incubation space to be developed / facilitated

· # Angel and venture capital of Rs 500 cr to be mobilised for start-ups

· # Start-ups to get sustenance allowance of Rs 10,000/month for a year

· # Start-up will get marketing assistance of Rs 10 lakh at launch stage

· # State will help key institutes to set up incubators and accelerators

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

4.1. Centre to invest Rs 70,000 crore ($10.7 bn) in ports in 5 years

Business Standard | Oct. 06, 2015

New Delhi: The Centre is likely to invest around Rs.70,000 crore in 12 major ports in the next five years under 'Sagarmala', an initiative aimed at promoting 'port-led development' along India's 7,500-km coastline.

"In a recent meeting, industrialists said it's cheaper to travel from Mumbai to London than to Delhi. Our logistic cost is thrice that of China... If we want to compete in the global market, logistic costs need to be reduced. 'Sagarmala' will address all these issue by developing ports and waterways in the country," said Nitin Gadkari, minister for road transport, highways and shipping after chairing the first meeting of the National Sagarmala Apex Committee.

"We are planning to invest Rs 60,000-70,000 crore on development of 12 major ports in the next five years. We have received 104 suggestions from international consultants to increase efficiency, which will be implemented in the next few years," he added, Gadkari said the project would create huge employment and boost the country's GDP. "Very soon, the ports, shipping and highways sector will add two per cent to the country's GDP."

To transform India into an automobile hub, he said the government would build eight scrap recycle centres near ports such as Kandla to recycle used vehicles from the world over and boost automobile exports.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

4.2. Centre considering new rules that could boost Indian shipping, say sources

Reuters | Oct. 13, 2015

New Delhi / Singapore: Indian state-owned firms may have to give half their freight business to local shippers to help rescue an industry battered by the global commodities downturn.

India's Cabinet could as early as next month consider making it mandatory for state-owned oil, steel, coal and fertiliser importers to route at least half of their cargoes through local shippers as part of a broader agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shore up and protect the ailing sector, a government source said.

New Delhi is proposing importers sign five-year contracts with local shipping firms in a move designed to shift freight worth billions of dollars to Indian flag carriers and help boost fleet companies like Shipping Corp of India, Mercator Ltd , Great Eastern Shipping Co and Essar Shipping.

In 2013-14, India paid about $57 billion in freight payments to foreign firms.

"We have already received comments from the related ministries on this proposal... we hope next month the Cabinet will consider this proposal," the source said, adding the five-year contracts would help firms raise funds to expand their fleets. Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari was not immediately available to comment.

LOSING OUT

India's total international trade increased by more than 230 percent between 2000 and 2014, to 811 million tonnes last year, according to shipping ministry data, but domestic shippers saw their trade rise by just 26 percent as they were edged out by international firms able to offer lower rates and quicker turnaround times.

The share of Indian trade carried by domestic firms sank to below nine per cent last year from more than a third in 1990, prompting concern about the industry's long-term viability. The proposed measures are designed to reverse that decline and encourage investment and expansion.

"Asset prices are at their lowest and this is a good time for Indian industry to invest," said Arun Devli, Chief Executive of the Indian National Shipowners' Association (INSA).

KNOCK-ON BENEFITS

A key part of the new proposal is to link the freight rates charged under the contracts to global benchmarks such as Clarksons and World Scale in order to bring greater transparency to rate setting and avoid local shippers setting up cartels.

The move fits Modi's 'Make-in-India' push toward creating skilled jobs for millions of young Indians. "As more Indian ships start participating in the regular carriage of Indian imports, other ancillary industries such as bunkering, ship repair and even ship building will grow," Devli said.

Most foreign-flag vessels calling on Indian ports bunker, or re-fuel, in Singapore or Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, and don't hire Indian seafarers, Devli said. "As of now, the (Indian) fleet is not enough to meet our requirements, but the shipping ministry has said companies will raise funds on the back of 5-year contracts to buy more vessels," said a person at Indian Oil Corp, which hires about 250 vessels each year for its crude oil imports.

Major international shippers who have increased trade into India over the past decade stand to potentially lose out if the new measures are implemented. Non-domestic shippers carrying Indian freight include Frontline Ltd, Navig8 Chemical Tankers Inc., Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd, Olympic Shipping , BW LPG and Avance Gas Holding, crude buyers and shipping sources told Reuters.

"Any increase in the reservation of cargo for national fleets is a cause of concern because it reduces the volume of cargo available for free traders, such as many Greek or Hong Kong shipowners," said Arthur Bowring, managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners' Association.

Yet the robust growth rates in economic activity and overall international trade should continue to make India an attractive market for most international carriers, sources in the industry said.

5.1. India's energy mix to have 40% renewable sources by 2030

Business Standard | Sep. 22, 2015

New Delhi: At least 40 per cent of India's total power capacity will come from renewable sources by 2030. The decision to substantially alter the energy mix that powers India in future is likely to be taken at the Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government decides the country's targets for the Paris climate change agreement.

Government sources confirmed that the aggressive target for renewable energy capacity was worked out by the power and environment ministries under close supervision of the Prime Minister's Office and is now expected to be cleared by the Cabinet.

If the Cabinet approves this proposal, India would be looking at a commitment of building a total of 350 Gw of solar and wind power by 2030. Out of this, the government expects 250 Gw of the renewable portfolio to come from solar power and 100 Gw from wind power. The NDA government has already committed to 100 Gw of solar power and 60 Gw of wind power by 2022. In the case of solar power, even the 100 Gw target for 2022 was a five-time jump over the target committed by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.

The projections done by the government suggest that by 2030, India would have a total built up power capacity of 850 Gw. This ambitious target will help India offer the global community a 35 per cent reduction in the greenhouse gas emission intensity of its economy below 2005 levels by 2030 as part of its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) under the Paris agreement. At present, India has committed to 20-25 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2020. The government's preliminary assessments suggest India is on way to achieve the lower end of the existing target comfortably and could attain more with some extra effort in the remaining years.

The usual definition of renewable sources includes hydropower and nuclear; nevertheless, the government does not project substantial growth of capacity from these sources in future. "From the current levels of about 56 Gw, we should be able to ramp up capacity in nuclear and hydropower to about 80 Gw," one of the sources involved in the preparation of the INDC told Business Standard. The bulk of our growth shall come from solar, wind and coal, he added.

Hydropower could see an addition of 15 Gw over the existing roughly 50 Gw and nuclear power should be able to increase from about 6 Gw at present to about 16 Gw by 2030.

Growth in gas-based power is also not expected to grow though utilisation of the existing 25 Gw could be enhanced from around 10 per cent at present to 60 per cent officials said.

A second official, wishing not to be named, said, "While India will continue to demand developed countries come through on their obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the government also wants to do more than its fair bit. It is a very ambitious leap. It has taken a long period of discussions with many parts of the government involved besides all kinds of other stakeholders like the civil society and the industry."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the UN General Assembly as well as special summit by UN Secretary General on climate change as part of his tour to the US which starts on September 23. The decision on India's INDC is timed to make the announcement accordingly. The government is expected to formally submit the INDC document to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in the coming week as well.

Key countries and blocks have already declared their INDCs and the global community for a while has been watching India for its contributions. The US has declared that it would reduce its emissions by 24-26 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025. The EU has said it would reduce its emissions by at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.

China on the other hand has committed to peak its emissions around 2030 and reduce its greenhouse gas emission intensity between 60 and 65 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and ensure that the share of total non-fossil fuel rises to 20 per cent of its total primary energy supply over the same period. But observers have noted that the figures given by countries in percentage terms contain elements of uncertainty when converted to gross greenhouse gas emission reductions it entails.

A published scientific paper in reputed journal has suggested that China might have already over-estimated its emissions from burning coal by around 15 per cent. If the Chinese government was to now relook at its method of calculating emissions, it could get greater legroom in future to peak.

GREEN DRIVE

•  At least 40 per cent of India's total power capacity will come from renewable sources by 2030
• The NDA government has already committed to 100 Gw of solar power and 60 Gw of wind power by 2022
• Hydropower could see an addition of 15 Gw over the existing roughly 50 Gw
• Utilisation of the existing 25 Gw in gas-based power could be enhanced from around 10 per cent at present to 60 per cent.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

5.2. India To Switch All Its Street Lights To LED In 2 Years

Sep. 8th, 2015, | By Anand Upadhyay

There are several reasons why I like the LED technology, not least of which is that it is easier to spell than both incandescent and fluorescent. Did you take a note that the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2014 went to the inventors of the (blue) LED?

Recently India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal, announced the country’s intention to replace all its conventional streetlights with LED ones, with the underlying logic being that conserving power is more economical than producing more.

Reportedly, India has 35 million street lights which generate a total demand of 3,400 MW. With LED, this can be brought down to 1,400 MW, saving 9000 million kWh of electricity annually, worth over $850 million in the process. To put this into perspective, the electricity deficit in India during 2014-15 was 38,138 million kWh and 7,006 MW.

The National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting was launched by Prime Minister Modi in January this year. At its inception, the plan was to cover 100 cities by March next year, and the remaining ones by March 2019, targeting 770 million bulbs and 35 million street lights. However, it seems street lights will be upgraded to LED ahead of schedule.

The task of operating and maintaining the street lights falls under the jurisdiction of Urban Local Bodies (ULB), or municipalities. As most of the ULBs were not in a position to bear the high initial capital cost by themselves, four central government power utilities joined hands to set up a company Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL).

On a side note, apart from efficient lighting, EESL will also operate as a full-fledged Energy Service Company (ESCO). The company has been making profits consistently since its formation, without any aid from the government.

Under the service model chosen, the ULBs do not have to make any upfront investments for installing the LED street lights, as EESL does it for them. The investment is also recovered from a portion of the savings accrued by the ULBs (on account of lower electricity bills) over a period of seven years, which means the ULBs start saving money right from the get-go.

Lighting demands 18% of the electricity consumed in India. This is against a global average of just 13%. A large-scale LED adoption will bring the figure for India down to the global average, significantly cutting down the need to build more energy plants. If one also accounts for installing LED bulbs in domestic and commercial sectors, the opportunity at hand is to save a mammoth 100 billion kWh per annum ($7 billion a year).

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

6.1. Mondelez India plans to expand rural ops

TNN | Sep. 24, 2015 | By Namrata Singh

Mumbai: Mondelez India Foods (erstwhile Cadbury India) has chalked out a strategy to expand its rural operations as chocolate penetration in the country doubles with rising consumption.

The maker of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, Bournvita milk food drink, Tang powdered drink mix and Oreo biscuits has identified 20,000 high potential villages in nine states where it will deploy its distribution machinery to market its products. Subsequently, the firm will continue to expand in about 5,000 odd villages every year, Chandramouli Venkatesan, MD, Mondelez India Foods told TOI in an exclusive interview.

"Rural is increasingly integrating with the mainstream and that is one of the key drivers to growth. Earlier, rural was defined by not only a place where people lived but also the mindset. Today, it's only a place where you stay and the mindset has become mainstream. Better connectivity to technology has enabled this shift," said Venkatesan, who took over at the helm of the firm in January this year. Reaching 780,000 villages in India can be a challenging task for a marketer. Most marketers are thus identifying high potential villages to increase their penetration.

Three years back, when Mondelez began evaluating the potential of the rural market, it had experimented with placing dispensers at select stores in three villages in Maharashtra where none of its products were available. "We watched for a month and were surprised that the throughput at these stores was Rs 1,000 in one month. This is comparable to what one would get in a lower end store in urban India," said Venkatesan. Mondelez realised that the rural consumer was willing to purchase its products much like its urban counterpart.Over the last decade, the per capita consumption of chocolate in India has trebled from 30 gm per annum to over 100 gm.

Realising the growth potential in rural India, and the rising per capita consumption of chocolate in the country, Mondelez has invested close to $200 million in capacity expansion and visi-coolers. It is also equally investing behind advertising and go-to-market. According to a Nielsen report, Mondelez draws 12% of its roughly Rs 7,000 crore turnover from rural markets.

6.2. Sugar production for 2015-16 estimated at 26 million tonnes

Business Standard | Oct. 12, 2015

Sugar production in the 2015-16 crop marketing year, started from October, is estimated to be around 26 million tonnes (mt), about two mt less than last year and below earlier projections, a senior government official said.

The drop has been mainly due to extended dry weather in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The expected fall in output, comes days after Indian Sugar Mills Association, lowered its forecast for the 2015-16 crop by one mt.

"Consumption in 2015-16 is estimated to be 25 mt, which also means that overall surplus this year could be around one mt, much less than expected," the official said.

The decision to lower the production estimate was taken after a meeting of state sugarcane commissioners held on Friday. "The input from the states showed that yields in Maharashtra and Karnataka could be impacted due to long dry spells in the sugarcane growing belts," the official said.

Maharashtra is India's largest sugar producing state, while Karnataka is also not far behind. This year's southwest monsoon has been deficient in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, where rainfall has been almost half the normal triggering concerns of a large-scale drought. The country had produced 28.1 mt of sugar in the 2014-15 marketing year (October-September). India is the world's second biggest sugar producer.

Maharashtra, the country's leading sugar producing state, has projected sugar output to decline to 8.6 mt in the 2015-16 marketing year, compared with 10.51 mt last year. The likely fall in sugar output in the state is mainly due to significant drop in sugarcane output to 83.6 mt in 2015-16 from 102.2 mt last year due to poor rains, a senior Maharashtra government official said.

Similarly in Karnataka, sugar output is estimated to decline to four mt in 2015-16 marketing year from five mt last year. Sugarcane cultivation in both Maharashtra and Karnataka is largely rain fed unlike Uttar Pradesh where it is irrigated.

However, in Uttar Pradesh, the country's second-largest sugar producer, sugar production is estimated to be at last year's level at 7.2 mt in 2015-16. According to sources, the UP government had initially informed the Centre that sugar output might exceed by 0.5 mt this year, but in today's meeting the state government submitted the sugar output for 2015-16 to be at last year's level of 7.2 mt.

"In the meeting, the UP government has been asked to rework their estimate keeping in view of possible high cane production in view of cane cultivation being irrigated unlike other states and use of improved cane varieties by farmers for last few years," the sources added. As per the Agriculture Ministry's first estimate, the sugarcane production is estimated to decline to 341.43 mt in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 359.3 mt in the last year.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

7.1. Tata Trusts supports microcredit initiative to fight poverty

PTI | Sep. 24, 2015

Bengaluru: Tata Trusts today said it has extended its support for a period of four years to Rang De — an internet-driven micro-lending platform, to fight poverty. The initiative aims to offer affordable micro-credit solutions to nearly a quarter of a million families, over the next five years, it said.

They will be given access to improved livelihoods, education, health and sanitation facilities, it said in a release. Tata Trusts said during the first year, Rang De will scale up the team and increase their crowdfunding network with an additional 12,000 social investors.

"Since our partnership fuels entrepreneurship at the very grassroot level in the country, we are confident that this will make a difference to the social sector. It will help improve livelihoods, education, health and sanitation facilities, through affordable solutions," Tata Trusts Development Manager Ganesh Neelam said.

Designed as a non-profit social business, Rang De has raised over 38,000 loans totalling over Rs 40 crores, funded by over 8000 individual "social investors" and 25 plus corporate partners.

"We are very excited and grateful to have Tata Trusts guidance and support in our mission to fight poverty in India. We plan to do this by bringing over 100 corporates and 1.5 lakh new socially conscious Indians to play the role of social investors over the next five years," Rang De Co-founder and CEO Ramakrishna NK said.

"We are expanding our team and inviting stellar professionals across technology, marketing and communications to power our growth," he added.

7.2. Rural youth can bank on finance sector for jobs

TNN | Oct. 5, 2015 | By Namrata Singh

Mumbai: The banking and finance sector holds a beacon of hope for rural youth as employment from the interiors now forms a bulk of the total hiring for some banks. For most private banks which started expanding their network in rural areas a few years ago, hiring from tier-3 to tier-6 regions now forms 50-80% of the total recruitment.

HDFC Bank officials said plans are afoot to hire around 12,000 people in the current year. Given the bank's growing presence in semi-urban and rural locations, a majority of the hiring is taking place in tier-4 to tier-5 cities. "These cities alone account for half of the total number. Most of the hires in the tier-4 and -5 locations are done locally. For example, in our auto loans business, for the rural vertical, we are hiring rural sales officers who are recruited from the same area, given their familiarity with the geography and demography," the officials said.

Over the last three-five years, Axis Bank too has been growing steadily and expanding its network and reach, especially in tier-2 and -3 cities. Hiring data over the last three years reveals a trend of close to 80% hiring from these cities by the bank. "With branches opening in tier-2 and -3 cities, the bank's strategy has been to focus on hiring local talent. This - whilst generating employment opportunity for the indigenous community - brings in local flavor, which is critical for customer service," said Rudrapriyo Ray, HR head, Axis Bank.

DCB Bank, which hires around 60% from tier-3 to tier-6 locations, sees a lot of business potential in these locations. Just a few years ago, the entire hiring at DCB Bank was carried out in tier-1 locations. The bank has also tied up with several campuses from tier-3 to tier-6 cities to facilitate hiring beyond the metros. Hamsaz Vasunia, HR head, DCB Bank, said hiring in these locations will continue to see an upward trend, especially in the banking sector.

Census data shows that over 22 million youth look to move from rural belts to urban areas in search of employment over a ten-year horizon. "Our six cities are incapable of fulfilling their aspirations any longer. Till such time manufacturing contributes to enable the labour market transition from farm to non-farm - labourintensive, service sectors like BFSI are a ray of hope for our youth in these semi-urban, rural areas," said Rituparna Chakraborty, senior VP and co-founder, TeamLease Services. Chakraborty, however, said the rural youth would need to skill up to take advantage of these jobs, which are expected to be in plenty in the months ahead.

  

8.1. Tata Chemicals launches umbrella brand Sampann

TNN | Oct. 8, 2015 | By Subhro Niyogi

Kolkata: Tata Chemicals Limited has launched a new brand, Tata Sampann, under its consumer products business to deliver food products that fulfill everyday needs of nourishment. Tata Sampann will act as an umbrella brand which will house the current and future food portfolio including unpolished high-protein dal range and low-oil absorb besan.

A Hindi word, 'Sampann' which means 'enriched, prosperous, complete' connotes the brand's purpose to offer that extra nourishment in daily foods. The brand will cater to homes that require wholesome food without compromising on taste.

Speaking about the launch, Tata Chemicals Limited's consumer products business COO Richa Arora said: "Tata Sampann will focus on offering everyday nourishing foods that form a part of the Indian thali, as they enable delivery of health and wellness to a wide cross section of consumers. As we expand further into the foods category, we felt that there was a need to create a new identity that would encompass the entire range." Tata Sampann has also launched a new communication campaign named 'Goodness Ki Shuruaat' to communicate the focus and benefits of its offerings. From procurement, processing and packaging - the brand not only selects the best produce, but also ensures that products reach the kitchen exactly the way nature intended it to be.

9.1. Top executives of tech giants pledge support for Digital India initiative

Livemint | Sep. 28, 2015

New Delhi: Top executives of global information technology giants Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Adobe Systems Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. on Saturday said they are keen to join hands with India and deepen their participation in the Digital India initiative that aims to ensure that government services are available to citizens over the Internet. The chief executives of the top technology firms were speaking at a Digital India forum in San Jose, California during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.

“India has more than 300 million Internet users and smartphone users. People are educating themselves and their loved ones how to use technology,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive, Google. “India is coming online at an unprecedented pace.” “I can feel the change in the air,” he said. “I am excited about technology, and India will play a big part in its future.” He also said India has become the fastest growing start-up nation.

Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm, told the forum that his semiconductor company is keen to promote the Digital India vision. “To promote ICT (information communication technology) in India, we will be setting up a $150 million fund to fuel innovation and foster promising Indian start-ups who are contributing to the mobile and ‘Internet of Everything’ ecosystem.”

“In line with the Make in India initiative,” he added, “the company will set up design centres in India to design products from India for the world.” Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said the company is looking to bring low-cost Internet in India. “We want to help people make things and make things happen. It is time to collectively combine efforts to empower the people,” he said.

The company worked with researchers to bring low-cost Internet infrastructure to rural Andhra Pradesh using television’s white spaces, he said. “We are now looking to replicate the same pilot project in Varanasi.” “We are in talks with state governments to expand it in 5,000 villages,” he added.

Modi, in his address, thanked the companies for their initiatives.

“We will see the perfect picture of US-India partnership emerging in the digital economy,” he said adding it is a new era of empowerment where global firms are creating infrastructure and services to support the government with the Digital India initiative.

“Technology is empowering people,” Modi said. “We are attacking poverty with network and smartphones.” “In the digital age, we have the opportunity to transform the lives of people. About 170 e-governance applications are there to make government services available in better and faster way,” he added.

Stressing on the role of social media in empowering citizens, Modi said, “Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have become the new neighbourhoods. Social media has turned everybody into a reporter.” Briefing reporters later, foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Modi had invited Apple to set up a manufacturing base in India.

“The Prime Minister (in his meeting with Cook) said he would like Apple to start manufacturing in India. He mentioned the huge opportunities India offered,” Swarup told reporters. Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, which is the largest manufacturer of Apple products, has already decided to set up a manufacturing base in India, Swarup said. “Cook responded positively. I think India does fits into his long term plans. He particularly was interested in the whole app development economy, which he said could be a very, very important factor for entrepreneurship where individual app developers can just become part of the app universe,” Swarup said.

There was also some discussion on how Apple Pay could be a part of India’s financial inclusion Jan Dhan Yojana and other such initiatives, he added. Indian ambassador to the US, Arun Singh, told reporters that during the Modi-Cook meeting “there was a sense that a lot of design innovation is happening in India.”

“As Apple expands its presence in India, including a manufacturing presence there could be enhanced opportunity for app development related to the apple platforms,” he said. During the meeting, Cook is said to have recalled how Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs came to India as a young man seeking inspiration.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

9.2. Google to give Wi-Fi access in 500 railway stations

Business Standard | Sep. 28, 2015

Global search giant Google will enable a little over 500 railway stations in India with Wi-Fi access, even as the country’s national open fibre network aims to provide broadband access to the 600,000 villages in the country. “We are expanding our public Wi-Fi hotspots. For example, we want to ensure that free Wi-Fi is not only there in airport lounges but also on our railway platforms. Teaming with Google, we will cover 500 railway stations in a short time,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Digital India dinner at San Jose, California, on Sunday morning.

Modi did not elaborate on the terms with Google. “We want our 1.25 billion citizens to be digitally connected. We already had broadband usage across India go up by 63 per cent last year. We need to accelerate this,” he said. “Building I-ways are as important as highways.”

Modi explained the aim was to turn India’s villages into smart economic hubs and connect our farmers better to markets, making them less vulnerable to the whims of weather. “For me, access also means that content should be in local languages. In a country with 22 official languages, it is a formidable but an important task,” he added. Modi said technology was a tool to empower and bridges the distance between hope and opportunity. ”This is what sets us apart from the century that we have just left behind. There might be still some who see the digital economy as the tool of the rich, educated and the privileged. But, ask the taxi driver or the corner vendor in India what he has gained from his cellphone, and the debate gets settled.”

Adding: “I see technology as a means to empower and as a tool that bridges the distance between hope and opportunity.

Social media is reducing social barriers. It connects people on the strength of human values, not identities.” He said technology was advancing citizen empowerment and democracy that once drew their strength from constitutions, and forcing governments to respond in “24 minutes instead of 24 hours” and help India’s “transformation on a scale that is unmatched in human history”.

“Nothing else will do in a country with 800 million youth under the age of 35 years, impatient for change and eager to achieve it. We will transform governance, making it more transparent, accountable, accessible and participative. I seek of e-governance as a foundation of better governance -- efficient, economical and effective,” he declared.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.1. Shri Nitin Gadkari to launch Green Highways Policy

Press Information Bureau | Sep. 29, 2015

New Delhi: Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari will release the Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification and Maintenance) Policy, 2015 at the National Conference in New Delhi tomorrow. Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping will also address the conference.

At the National Conference, over thousand delegates from all over India will participate and deliberate upon various issues related to the development of Green Highways in the country. The Conference will have technical sessions on various issues such as Designing Green Belt-A Strategic Approach, Steps towards successful plantation along National Highways and Saving Trees through Transplanting.

The Green Highways Policy is a Policy to promote greening of Highway corridors with participation of the community, farmers, private sector, NGOs, and government institutions. After the implementation of the policy, the community will be benefitted in terms of huge employment opportunities and entrepreneurship development. There will be huge environmental benefits also. It will also contribute to economic development of the country.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.2. Govt moves to revive stuck road projects

Livemint | Oct. 15, 2015

New Delhi: In a bid to revive languishing national highway projects, the government has approved a one-time fund infusion for projects that are at an advanced stage of completion but are stuck because of a shortage of funds. The decision was taken on Wednesday by the cabinet committee on economic affairs.

Projects that are at least 50% complete and have been languishing as on 1 November 2014 will be eligible for such assistance, communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the cabinet meeting. The fund for reviving road projects will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

In June, the authority proposed a one-time fund infusion for BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects and asked road developers to come forward with a financing plan for such projects.

The assistance will be provided “subject to the condition that after completion of construction of such projects, loans are to be recovered along with interest at the rate of bank rate plus two per cent by NHAI from the annuities payable, bi-annuaily, through execution of a tripartite agreement among the senior lender, concessionaire and the authority,” a government statement said.

The cabinet also approved the revised cost estimates for the Kaladan multi-modal transport project for shipment of cargo from north-east India to Myanmar. The project cost has been revised to Rs.2,904 crore, from Rs.536 crore in 2008.

The Kaladan project aims to provide an alternative access route to the north-eastern region of India and contribute towards the region’s economic development. Being a key connectivity project, it will promote economic, commercial and strategic links between India and Myanmar, the government said in a statement. “In the absence of an alternative route, the development of this project not only serves the economic, commercial and strategic interests of India, but also contributes to the development of Myanmar, and its economic integration with India. Since the project is of political and strategic significance, it was decided to execute it through India’s grant assistance to Myanmar,” the statement said.

The government also decided to widen the road to four lanes from the two lanes proposed earlier. “If we are looking at the roads to service trucks and large container services, then four-laning is key as otherwise there would be serious traffic build-ups along some stretches choking the roads,” a government official associated with the project said speaking under condition of anonymity.

A Rs.3,091 crore project for the construction of houses and barracks at 68 locations for the Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police during the 12th Five-year Plan (2012-17) was also approved by the cabinet.

The improved housing will boost the morale of the security forces, improving their efficiency to deal with law and order, counter insurgency, anti-Naxal operations and to guard India’s international borders, the government said.

It also approved the payment of performance-related pay to executives and non-unionized supervisors of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its units. This is a special dispensation for CIL and will not be cited as a precedent by other loss-making central public sector enterprises, the government said in a statement.

“The payment would be out of the corpus created by pooling the profits of CIL subsidiary companies, duly setting off the losses of the loss-making subsidiaries and stand-alone profits of CIL, excluding dividends received from its subsidiary companies,” a government statement said. Welcoming the decision, coal secretary Anil Swarup tweeted, “Coal India rewarded for sterling performance. Government approves Performance Related Pay (PRP).”

In another decision, the cabinet gave its approval for extending the existing productivity linked reward (PLR) scheme for port and dock employees from 2014-15 to 2015-16. The expenditure will be met by port trusts and dock labour boards from their own resources, and will benefit nearly 44,000 employees.

The cabinet also approved upgradation of the National Institute of Fashion Technology campuses for implementation of reservation for other backward classes students and extended the deadline for completion till March 2017.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs also approved a Rs.7,000 crore loan that was taken by the government from public sector banks such as State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank to clear outstanding urea subsidy bill during 2014-15. The centre provides urea to farmers at a fixed maximum retail price of Rs.5,360 per tonne. The difference between the cost of production and the maximum retail price is provided as subsidy to manufacturers.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

- INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

11.1. Chinese companies to invest $5bn in renewable power sector

TNN | Oct. 16, 2015 | By John Sarkar

New Delhi: In a boost to PM Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' project, two Chinese companies, Sany Group and Chint Group, said on Thursday that they are looking to invest around $5 billion in the country's renewable power sector. While Sany, one of China's leading manufacturers of construction equipment, has committed around $3 billion in five years for setting up wind turbines, Chint, which specializes in industrial equipment and energy, will invest around $2 billion in solar projects.

Sany said its projects will generate 4.8 terra-watthours (TWh) of green and clean power annually and create 1,000 jobs. "Narendra Modi's visit to China has bettered Indo-China business ties," said Sany Group chairman Kiang Wengen.

"This investment is a significant step in deepening our presence and commitment to India. Green energy industry in India is growing and we see this as a huge opportunity to introduce our wind energy business in the country."

PM Narendra Modi has been harping on the importance of clean energy in the country. He has set a goal of 175 gigawatts of green energy capacity in the next seven years at an estimated cost of around $200 billion.Apart from Wengen, other billionaires such as, SoftBank's Masayoshi Son and Foxconn's Terry Gou, have also shown interest in making significant investments in the country's clean energy sector.

Sany entered India in 2002 and currently employs around 269 people in its plant in Chakan, Pune that manufactures construction equipment, including cranes and concrete machinery.

11.2. Chinese firm to set up solar spare parts unit at Achuthapuram Special Economic Zone

TNN | Sep 22, 2015

Visakapatnam: China-based Trina Solar Limited (TSL) in association with Indian player Welspun India Ltd will set up a solar spare parts manufacturing unit at Achuthapuram Special Economic Zone (SEZ) soon, said district collector N Yuvaraj in an official release on Monday.

The two firms have expressed interest in setting up the unit at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore and Hunter Wu and Sam Liu of TSL as well as Welspun chief executive officer Gautham Kapur interacted with the collector in this regard on Monday.

The collector said they would identify suitable land for the unit soon as the two companies were interested to start the process of setting up the unit within a month.

11.3. Aditya Birla Group teams up with Abraaj for solar plants

HT Business | Oct. 08, 2015

Mumbai: The $41-billion Aditya Birla Group on Wednesday announced a partnership with the Abraaj Group, a leading investor in global growth markets, to build a large-scale renewable energy platform that will develop utility-scale solar power plants in India.

The Aditya Birla Group will invest through Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL), while Abraaj will invest through one of its affiliates. ABNL has signed a shareholders agreement with Abraaj. ABNL and an Abraaj affiliate will hold 51% and 49% respectively in Aditya Birla Renewables, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of ABNL. 

Aditya Birla Renewables, the solar power platform, will bid for projects tendered at national and state auctions to develop and operate utility-scale solar power plants that will provide clean and cost-effective electricity to national grids.

The partnership comes at a time when demand for power in India is rising as a result of the country’s growing population, rapid urbanisation and increasing economic activities. The government too has created favourable regulatory policies for the use of renewable energy, including setting a target to achieve 100 gigawatts of solar power capacity by 2022 compared to the current installed capacity of 4 GW.

“The Aditya Birla Group supports the government’s initiative for a greater share of renewables in the energy mix. This cooperation will give a fillip to the Aditya Birla Group’s renewable energy initiatives and contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of India,” said Dev Bhattacharya, business head (group corporate strategy solar power and e-commerce).

Sev Vettivetpillai, partner at Abraaj, said: “The gap in energy infrastructure in growth markets translates into a long-term and sustainable investment opportunity. Renewable energy is set for explosive growth, thanks to technological advances, favourable policies and pricing structures, that make it a competitive alternative to conventional power generation. At Abraaj, we see significant opportunity in India, one of the world’s biggest energy consumption markets. We look forward to working closely with the Aditya Birla Group to provide clean energy to Indian businesses, communities and consumers.”

The Abraaj Group has comprehensive investment experience across the energy value chain and has invested about US$ 1 billion in 10 investments in global growth markets. The Aditya Birla Group was advised on the transaction by Greenstone Energy Advisors.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

12.1. Textile machinery industry likely to touch Rs.45,000 cr ($6,9 bn) by 2022

IBEF | Oct. 08, 2015

Mumbai: The Indian textile machinery industry is expected to double to Rs.45,000 crore (US$ 6.9 billion) by 2022 from Rs.22,000 crore (US$ 3.4 billion) in 2014, as per Mr Sanjiv Lathia, Chairman of India International Textile Machinery Exhibitions. The growth expectation is based on increasing demand of textile and apparel market in India.

In 2014, the textile machinery industry witnessed 8-10 per cent growth to reach Rs.22,000 crore (US$ 3.4 billion). The 'Make in India' initiative is also expected to boost the textile sector by way of increase in demand for modern machineries. India's textile and apparel industry is expected to grow from the current US$ 107 billion to US$ 223 billion by 2021.

Factors such as abundance of skilled labour, low cost and availability of natural resources are expected to help India fulfil its potential to become a manufacturing hub in the textile machinery. The government and the industry need to focus on research and development in order to develop modern and innovative technologies in India.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

12.2. Spacewood attracts 'India's first FDI' in furniture industry

TNN | Oct. 7, 2015 | By Aparna Desikan

Chennai: Attracting possibly India's first FDI in the furniture industry, Spacewood has received a 26% equity stake from Japan's Sumitomo Forestry, a forestry, housing and timber and building materials trading company.

Through the alliance, Spacewood would increase its retail footprint from existing 15 stores to approximately 50 stores, the furniture company announced on Wednesday.

As a part of this alliance, Spacewood, in association with Sumitomo Forestry Crest Co Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Sumitomo Forestry, will set up a new manufacturing facility for the production of pre-hung doors. The company is aiming at expanding its kitchen products and home furniture businesses to manufacturing of wooden interior and building materials.

Kirit Joshi co- founder of Spacewood said, "I am really pleased to announce the association with Sumitomo Forestry. This association has brought significant opportunity of growth to Spacewood. As far as I know, this is the first FDI in our industry."

Itaru Ozaki, general manager, Sumitomo Forestry, said: "We are very excited about Indian market and our partnership with Spacewood and its founders. Spacewood and Sumitomo Forestry desire to contribute to the evolution of housing and enhancement of living environments in India through the introduction and adoption of new building materials and technology from Japan. India has become a very important strategic market for us and we will continue to invest and look for opportunities here."

12.3. Herman Miller opens production unit in India

Livemint | Oct. 15, 2015

New Delhi: American furniture maker Herman Miller, renowned for having designed the “office cubicle” opened its first production facility in the country on Wednesday to cater to demand for office chairs and desks from local clients in India.

The facility in Bidadi, Karnataka, opened on Wednesday to feed cities in the South and West of India–the company’s largest markets in the country.

“India is one of our fastest-growing markets in Asia. We want to be...more accessible for the local market,” said Jeremy Hocking, vice president for Asia Pacific at the company. The company will locally procure and source materials from India and build a supply chain capability to service the market.

Hocking declined to share investment committed towards the 5,600 sq. feet facility that will for now churn out 2,000 chairs a week and 1,000 tables. The facility will employ 150 people.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

13.1. Amazon India to expand designer wear store

Livemint | Oct. 05, 2015

Bengaluru: E-commerce firm Amazon India is expanding its online designer wear store and creating a specialty handicraft store as part of a strategy increasingly being adopted by online retailers to boost demand for products that don’t always sell briskly and customise their offering for individual users.

Amazon India (owned by Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd) will launch its “Crafted in India” online store this week, offering 3,500 handicraft products across 11 regions. The e-commerce firm will offer saris, shoes, handbags, jewellery and other handicrafts sourced from regional weavers and artisans.

“Our aim is to revive the authentic Indian handicrafts market and make every region’s iconic crafts accessible to customer across the country at affordable prices,” said Susan Saideman, vice president, global vendor management, Amazon com Inc.

“Looking at the modern-day sensibilities in fashion today, the store is designed to offer a wide array of selection suited to varying tastes and style preferences of our customers. It’s one of our top festive offerings this season and we will continue to introduce more over the next few months.”

The e-commerce firm is also expanding its designer wear store ahead of the Amazon Fashion Week this month. Amazon has created several such specialty stores, including ones for wedding items and gift cards. These stores are the online versions of shop-in-shops at offline retailers.

For e-commerce companies like Amazon, which offer everything from books, electronics, furniture and apparel, such stores allow them to lure customers who may otherwise go to specialty online retailers. Amazon’s rival, Flipkart Ltd, too, is creating specialty online stores for its shoppers by bundling products meant for weddings, travel, kids and sports activities. Flipkart’s unit, Myntra, has also created separate stores for brands like Nike and Adidas.

“We think this (having specialty stores) is becoming an important part of our fashion business,” said Mayank Shivam, fashion category leader at Amazon India. “It allows us to build depth in a category and present it in the most attractive way to customers. With such stores, we can offer content and the kind of comprehensive experience that customers want.”

Fashion sales bring in the fattest margins for online retailers among the top product categories. Apart from peers such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, Amazon competes with specialty fashion online retailers such as Myntra, Jabong and Limeroad.

Indians bought fashion products worth $559 million online in 2013. This may increase to $2.8 billion by 2016, according to an April 2014 report by venture capital firm Accel Partners, an investor in Flipkart.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

13.2. India to become regional export hub for L'Oreal

Business Standard | Oct. 08, 2015

Mumbai: French beauty major L'oreal is expected to increase export of products as well as technology out of India into the southeast Asian and larger Asia-Pacific regions as the market grows for the company. The Paris headquartered firm, ranked among leading beauty product makers in the world, and has been increasingly looking east to fuel its next phase of growth.

India is rapidly emerging a key hub for the company within what it calls the South Asia-Pacific region, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India and the Philippines. North Asia includes China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

In a conversation with Business Standard, Jean-Christophe Letellier, L'oreal's India managing director, said the firm was supplying products to Indonesia and Australia across categories such as hair colour, hair care and male grooming. This would be stepped up in the coming years. "We are partially catering to markets in southeast Asia from our plants in India. This would increase over time," said Letellier, who took over as India managing director two years ago.

Parallely, the beauty major is also expected to press its research & development (R&D) units located at Mumbai and Bengaluru to cater to not only local, but also regional needs. "India is among five markets globally where we have R&D units. The formulations that we develop here in my view can be transported to markets within the South East region and even further into markets such as Africa," he said. Garnier for Men, the male grooming range, which was indigenously developed, has been taken to countries such as Indonesia, Letellier said. Some India-specific innovations in hair oil, colour and face wash, he said, could be transported to markets abroad.

To step up exports from India, the French major is also likely to line up its second investment tranche for the domestic market, which will be used to improve its distribution network. Currently, the Rs 2,100-crore India unit, which grew at the rate of 18 per cent in 2014 calendar year, reaches 500,000 retail outlets in the country. The plan is to ramp this number up as L'Oreal increasingly expands reach beyond Tier-I and Tier-II markets.

L'Oreal's first investment tranche to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore, first announced in 2011 for a five-year period, has been nearly utilised for increasing its manufacturing capabilities, distribution and marketing. Apart from its existing plant in Chakan, Pune, L'Oreal set up a second factory recently in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, for hair colour. Some of the Rs 1,000-crore investment also went into ramping up its R&D facilities and recruiting staff across departments in the past few years. L'Oreal's India push comes at a time when the global major has said it expects India to be among the top five markets for it in the next five years. India is currently among the top 15. During his India visit recently, L'Oreal's global chairman & chief executive Jean-Paul Agon had said he expected India to clock sales of Rs 7,000 crore by 2020.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

14.1. Ford firms up plans for made-in-India engines

Livemint | Oct. 05, 2015

New Delhi: Ford Motor Co. has identified India as one of the countries where it will manufacture two families of engines, code-named Panther and Dragon, which will power several of its products globally, according to two people familiar with the development.

From 2017, made-in-India Panther engines will be fitted in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) such as the Endeavour in India, while Dragon will power all the company’s small cars made here. Panther will also power a multi-utility vehicle in India that Ford plans to develop to compete with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd’s Innova. Detroit-based Ford also plans to invest as much as $800 million in India as it looks to integrate its two entities in the country.

A company spokesman in India declined to comment in an email.

Ford operations in India also include global business services, with offices in Chennai, New Delhi and Coimbatore. Registered as Ford Motor Pvt. Ltd, the global business services unit provides solutions to Ford offices around the world in the areas of information technology, product engineering, finance and accounting, automotive financing, material, planning and logistics, marketing, sales and service, analytics, and purchasing. Ford India Pvt. Ltd is the entity that makes and sells its products in India.

“The new investments will also go in expanding the company’s Chennai facility and setting up a new engineering centre,” said a person familiar with the development. Under those plans, Ford plans to acquire a 28 acre plot in Chennai, which will house its integrated offices. The announcement with effect to the new investments is likely to be made in the next six months.

“Beyond the $2 billion already invested in India till now, Ford has been in discussion with the government of Tamil Nadu and signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) for augmenting manufacturing capacity and establishing a new global engineering and technology centre in Chennai. Once finalized, the 28 acre Ford campus will create thousands of new jobs and harness India’s immensely talented workforce,” the spokesman said.

With the two Ford entities combined, the company currently employs 14,000 people in India. Of these, Ford Motor Pvt. Ltd employs around 6,500 people.

Panther is a 2.2-litre diesel engine that will be locally assembled in India, and will power Ford’s SUV Endeavour. Currently, the vehicle is powered by a 2.5-litre diesel engine in the manual transmission and a 3- litre diesel engine in automatic transmissions.

“Starting 2017, with the new engine, Ford expects to sell 1,000 units of Endeavours every month in the country,” said a person who has a business interest with the company. Dragon is a 1.2-litre petrol engine that is being developed in India with a clear mandate of improved fuel efficiency. The current 1.2 litre petrol engine that power Ford’s cars such as Figo and Aspire have been criticized for low fuel efficiency.

“The upgrades of both these cars will come with the new engine in 2017,” said the person cited at the second instance. Together, these made in India engines will power 270,000 vehicles globally every year. Ford has invested over $2 billion in India to set up two plants, one each in Chennai and Sanand in Gujarat. Together, these plants could make 610,000 engines and 440,000 passenger vehicles annually.

According to Abdul Majeed, partner and auto practice leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the move is aimed at sustaining the company’s business in India. “Like most OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), Ford is heavily invested in India for a long time and they will have to look for ways to start making money in the country,” Majeed said. “Exports seem like one viable option.”

During the year ended 31 March, Ford exported 81,703 vehicles; an increase of 70% from the year-ago period, while total passenger vehicle exports from the country grew 4.42% to 622,470 units. Only Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd exported more cars than the American company.

During the period, Ford’s sales in the domestic market contracted 11.1% to 75,138 units, while the India passenger vehicle market grew 3.9% to 1.6 million units.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

14.2. Ford goes beyond Make in India, will Design in India

Business Standard | Oct. 09, 2015

New Delhi: Global automobile companies Mercedes and BMW have been gung-ho on the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. Now, American carmaker Ford is giving Indian automobile manufacturing a new dimension — its India subsidiary is considering designing a new vehicle in the country.

The move will make Ford the first global automobile major to design a vehicle here. Typically, global carmakers with a manufacturing base in India collaborate with their global research teams. Ford, it is learnt, will design the new Fiesta (to replace the existing one) at its research and development and engineering facilities in Chennai. The product, which will cater to the domestic and export markets, is expected to be launched in 2017.

When asked about the plans, Ford India President Nigel Harris said, “I can’t confirm or deny it. We are not talking about it. We will tell you all about it next year.” Last month, the company had said it would enhance investment in India for capacity expansion at the Chennai plant and the establishment of a new global engineering and technology centre.

“India is at the centre of innovation at Ford and we are delighted to strengthen our presence with a new global engineering and technology centre,” Dave Schoch, president of Ford Asia-Pacific, had said. “With these latest investments, we are making rapid progress in our vision of driving innovation from India to the world.”

Besides the engineering and technology centre, the new Ford campus will also host operations of Ford Global Business Services in the areas of IT, product engineering, data analytics and manufacturing, among others. “This reflects the level of confidence global automakers have in Indian capabilities. Until now, India was known for manufacturing excellence and low-cost sourcing. A move by global automakers such as Ford to use India as their design centre will certainly enhance the nation’s ranking in global automobile manufacturing,” said Amit Kaushik, country head (India) at JATO Dynamics, a UK-based automotive research firm.

With two manufacturing facilities in India, Sanand and Chennai, Ford is already showcasing Indian automobile manufacturing at a global scale by exporting about 60 per cent of the vehicles produced. Vehicles and engines made at these plants are exported to 45 countries, and the list continues to expand. The company shipped 81,703 passenger vehicles in FY15. In the first five months of this financial year, the company has exported 41,667 vehicles, 28 per cent more than in the year-ago period.

FORD’S PLAN FOR INDIA

· Ford will design the new Fiesta (to replace the existing one), a sedan at its R&D and engineering facilities in Chennai

· Ford will enhance investments in India for capacity expansion at the Chennai Plant and the establishment of a new global engineering and technology centre

· The new Ford campus will host operations of Ford Global Business Services in areas of IT, product engineering, data analytics, manufacturing among others

· Ford shipped 81,703 passenger vehicles last financial year and was the country’s fourth largest exporter

· In the current financial year, the company exported 41,667 vehicles, growing 28 per cent over same period last year

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

14.3. Boeing boost for Make in India

TNN | Oct. 17, 2015

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign got a major boost on Friday with American aviation major Boeing joining the bandwagon. Boeing chairman James McNerney said here that the company could assemble fighter planes and either the Apache or Chinook defence helicopter in India. "Even (building a commercial aircraft wing or fuselage in India) is closer than you think," McNerney said, making Boeing the biggest global company to commit to the 'Make in India' programme.

Last month, Boeing had got a $3-billion contract for supplying 22 Apaches and 15 Chinooks to India. While finalizing the chopper order, the defence ministry had said that contract will have a 30% offset clause and bring in business worth $1 billion for the Indian defence industry. "Make in India is a very important mission for the country. Over the last two to three decades, the capability of the Indian people has been obvious and clear. Modi's initiative takes up those capabilities two to three levels," McNerney, who met Modi on Thursday, said.

"Make in India is not just someone handing you a blueprint and you make it. It can't be that way. I think the vision of the Prime Minister is more than that. India will get technology that can be used elsewhere in manufacturing ... Make in India is for India and globally. Given the global nature of our products, we can play at the centre of that," he said. Boeing sees huge potential in India for civil aviation growth and it projects the country will need 1,800 aircraft over the next two decades.

"Boeing sees this market as a civil aviation opportunity, as conversion of only 1% of people travelling in trains to aviation can double the market size here. We are also looking at producing more fuel-efficient, green and longer-flying capable planes to bring down the cost of flying to attract more customers," McNerney said.

Government eyes pie in Gulf carriers' traffic gain

Appreciating India's low cost Mars mission, he said Boeing was keen to partner India in space technology. Given the shrinking size of satellites, he hinted at using India's launch capabilities for Boeing's satellites. "If the politics here allows this initiative, to continue with the same momentum that it has today, for the next five years, the goal of moving the manufacturing contribution to the economy from 14% to 25% is achievable. The capability is here."

"The civil nuclear deal (between India and US) unlocked everything ... India is now better poised to make investments for us after the new government has come in," he said. However, Boeing said India needed to resolve issues like the uncertain tax regime and the long time it takes to resolve a dispute here. He gave credit to Modi for trying to address these issues. "Under the new leadership, the country is moving towards the manufacturing dream. The efforts of changing tax regime and working towards speedy dispute resolution are some of the things that this government is working on and it is an encouraging feeling."

15.1. Gionee plans to make India its export hub

Business Standard | Oct. 09, 2015

New Delhi: Chinese mobile handset company Gionee, which entered India in 2013, is planning to make the country an export hub for South Asia and Africa. The company will start manufacturing in India by February 2016. It is setting up a manufacturing unit with a Rs 300 crore investment.

“Our facility will be ready by February. The unit will be able to meet all our requirements in India,” said Arvind R Vohra, chief executive officer and managing director of Gionee India. “India is a prospective manufacturing hub for markets in South Asia and Africa once our requirements are met here,” he added.

Gionee sold four million handsets in the country in 2014 and expects to sell six million handsets this year. According to William Lu, president, Gionee India, is a strategic market for the company. “We were not present online. We are now partnering Snapdeal to offer our premium product, the E8,” he said.

“We have 32,000 channel partners in India but one cannot stay out of the online space. We did not go online because we were waiting for the right product,” Vohra added. “It is a great addition to our smartphone offerings. We hope our customers will be excited about the choices we are bringing them just before the festival season,” said Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive officer of Snapdeal.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

15.2. OnePlus partners Foxconn to assemble smartphones in India

Livemint | Oct. 13, 2015

New Delhi: Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Monday said it has partnered with Foxconn to assemble its phones in the Taiwanese company’s factory in Andhra Pradesh by the end of this year. Foxconn, known for making Apple Inc.’s iPhones and iPads, will make the Chinese company’s new devices in its 30,000 sq. ft facility in the Sri City Integrated Business City in Andhra Pradesh, OnePlus said in a statement.

The factory can make up to 500,000 units per month, it said. OnePlus plans to eventually assemble all its devices for sale in India through this local facility, said Vikas Agarwal, general manager of OnePlus in India. The company didn’t disclose any financial details of the partnership.

“We want to assemble the phones here to cut down on the waiting period to ship the phones from China and also participate in the Make in India campaign,” said Pete Lau, chief executive of OnePlus. OnePlus is among several phone makers that are heading to India to assemble phones here, heeding the call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to turn the country into a manufacturing hub.

Earlier this year, China’s Xiaomi Corp. said it would partner Foxconn to make phones in its Andhra Pradesh facility. In July, Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd said it has started assembling smartphones at a Chennai facility run by Singapore-based contract manufacturer Flextronics International Ltd. Foxconn is investing $5 billion to set up manufacturing units in India over the next five years.

OnePlus, started in 2013 by Lau and Carl Pei, two former executives of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo, manufactures top-end phones at inexpensive prices and positions itself between Xiaomi and Apple Inc. globally. The company, whose smartphones are sold online through an invitation-only model, has sold more than 300,000 phones in India in the past year.

India, with roughly 150 million users, is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. With just two models—OnePlus One and OnePlus Two—the Chinese company is eyeing a share of the Indian smartphone market at a time when growth is slowing in its home market.

Lau said the company is not aiming to grab the mass market in India. “We want to target an audience that aspires to own phones with high-end specifications in the upper-middle-class segment,” he said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

-          SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

16. Tata sees digital, solar driving future business

HT Business | Sep. 29, 2015

Mumbai: Tata Industries, the Tata Group launch vehicle that spawned the Rs. 7.2-lakh crore conglomerate’s various businesses in the past 70 years, will now focus on digital, solar and advanced materials as the businesses of the future.

The Mumbai-based group has already developed three digital verticals at an initial investment of about Rs. 1,000 crore, including the largest, an e-commerce marketplace that will be launched soon with over 100 international marquee brands.

Tata Industries has picked up 40% equity stake in Flisom, a solar project start-up which is a spin-off of ETH Zurich, one of the world’s leading universities for technology and natural sciences. It has invested a total of $30 million so far in Flisom, which makes flexible thin solar modules which cost less and are easier to install. “Tata Industries continues to look for things which will keep us relevant and bring us closer to the customer at a profit,” executive director, KRS Jamwal told HT in an interview. “Digital is a key element of what will happen in next 30 years. We see business opportunities in digital. We also think solar energy is extraordinarily relevant,” he added.

Tata Advanced Materials that makes futuristic metals is the third promising area.

The 147-year old group mainly has big brick and mortar companies. But recently chairman Cyrus Mistry asked senior executives to prepare for a shift to digital businesses while also targeting to bring a quarter of the global population as customers of the conglomerate.

Even as India’s business faces disruption from e-commerce, the industry is closely watching the Tata’s plans. “The marketplace launch will be tactical based on brands we sign up. The idea is to have a curated Omni-channel marketplace and not launch it in a period such as Diwali or Christmas where there will already be hype,” said Jamwal.

Omni-channel markets, which use online, offline and mobile platforms to build a seamless marketplace, will help in sharing of inventories of brands such as Zara, Nu Look.

Apart from this, Tata is also building large plans on carbon fibre, which has applications in aerospace and is used by aircraft makers including Boeing, in its 787 Dreamliners.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

17.1. India can surpass US & China as Uber's biggest market: Travis Kalanick, CEO & co-founder, Uber 

ET Now | 23 Sep. 2015 | By Supriya Shrinate & Chandra R Srikanth

Travis Kalanick is the co-founder of Uber, one of the fastest-growing startups in the world, last valued at a whopping $50 billion. Kalanick, aged 39, created a business model that has spawned copycats in every industry. Often seen as irreverent and controversial, Kalanick is one of the biggest game-changers of our times.. Here is an excerpt of an exclusive interview that he gave to ET NOW at the Uber headquarters in San Francisco, the first time he has spoken to any media house in India.

You come to this space with some amount of failure in your past ventures. Has that changed your world view as far as starting up and Uber is concerned?

Ans: I love building things. And you have that love, whether it is doing well or not going well. And I had a couple of startups that either never got off the ground or flew really high and then crashed. But it brings texture to the person you are and also how you approach things. In some ways, doing a company is like you are in love. You learn from the high and the low points.

What will it take for a Silicon Valley like ecosystem to evolve in India- in terms of the challenges and the enablers?

I think what it comes down is entrepreneurs getting the experience of building things, getting funded and scaling things. That is a beautiful thing and that is starting to happen. Silicon Valley is up and running as a startup ecosystem but in many ways I think that there are a couple of burgeoning startup communities around the world that are going to become the next Silicon Valley. It's the three ba's- Bay area, Beijing and Bangalore. The three ba's is where it is going to go over the next decade.

What is it about India that excites Uber? Is it the scale and scope of the market? In terms of daily rides and revenues, where does India stand for Uber?

Uber is about serving cities. It is an obvious step for us to go to India and roll out our transportation in different cities, put our heart and soul there. India is our third largest country behind US and China and its growing pretty fast. Based on sheer number of people, over time, it could be possible that India surpasses one of them.

The one billion dollar investment that you announced for India a while back, where is that being spent? And what sort of opportunity do you see beyond the metros?

Being in the top tier cities in India doesn't mean you serve the country, there are hundreds of cities you need to serve and for that you need a lot of investment capital to make it a reality. When you go to hundreds of cities in India, you have to bring your cheque book and that is okay by us. We are super-excited about India.

Your arch-rival in China Didi Kuaidi is looking to buy stake in Ola and both companies have a common investor in Softbank. Does this coming together of Asian giants worry you at all?

Competition makes us better. Our engineers are working very hard to make sure we deliver a great experience and that experience only gets better. In terms of competitors investing in other ones, it's not what we do but that doesn't bother us. At the end of the day, you've got to be in the cities providing a great service. Where the money flows is not as important as the reliability and the affordability and the magic you can add to every experience.

In terms of regulatory environment, how do India and China compare? Does China have a better handle on norms as far as consumer internet is concerned?

I think there are interesting regulatory differences between China and India. They are unique regulatory environments in both those countries. I think that just means that you need to learn the local market and being local really matters. In India, the areas we spend time thinking about is finance. On rider side, we really love for folks to sue credit cards and debit cards as a threshold, where I can make a small transaction without punching in the code thereafter. For small transactions, I think that is reasonable. On the driver side, we think about how to make more Indians make their own businesses.

Is India a frustrating market given regulatory flip flops... you had to fight in court to get Uber back in some cities... Is that an experience you share across the world?

 I don't feel India has been particularly frustrating compared to other places in world. The kind of technology Uber brings there is huge upside for cities. It also means changing the way things work. To be honest, India has been open to this kind of innovation and technology that's why we exist in so many of India's great cities.

Anand Mahindra, who owns a big auto company in India recently said that companies like Uber and Ola are big threats as far as sales in concerned and the auto industry needs to brace for this. How real are his concerns?

We look at Uber at a couple of different ways. It makes transportation in cities more efficient. In Indian cities, that have tens of millions of people, this is not the only option. It can't be the only option but an efficient option. But, honestly, I've been in some buses in India and I think they are going to be packed for some time into the future.

As founder of one of the most valued startups in history and one of most controversial ones,how do you cope with criticism? How do you motivate yourself when Silicon Valley veterans like a Peter Thiel say that Uber is the most ethically challenged. Does it bother you?

When you bring big change to cities and systems, you have to expect certain amount of criticism, in fact a lot of criticism. That said, it's not easy. So, what you do is I am going to make sure that every action I take is principle, and that I have principles behind them. We are almost 5000 employees. That means as a company we all have to believe in actions we take. We make sure principles are underpinning all actions we take. Sometimes you make mistakes. You have to be quick in identifying and owing the things you should have done matter and figure out how we should not repeat them.

It's rather interesting that you almost spawned a culture of Uberification. Startups now describe themselves as the Uber of that space. Do they stand a better chance of getting funded by Travis Kalanick that way? Is it flattering?

I think its fine. A lot of Uber of X things will really stand on its own. Sometimes people misuse that. It's flattering. I am fine with it, doesn't bother me. Some of Uber of X things is things we do... most of them stand on their own... As a technologist I would love to see them flourish.

Uber now carries out food delivery in 10 mins in New York.. Which other user interesting cases you want to pionner and is local commerce natural extension of Uber?

We deliver cars in 5 mins. Once you do that you can do a lot of things in 5 mins. Yes it does become a local commerce thing. But it becomes local commerce thing for what is it that you want now. What you want when you want it. You want a push button and get it now That's the business we are in.. Things you want right now, lot of such things Uber is going to be in business of.

We read that your home is a jam pad for startups and entrepreneurs.. you open the door.. let people come and discuss ideas. When do we see a similar jampad happen in India? Is that on your radar?

Like I said earlier, I view what's happening in Bangalore and other cities in India. I see a bubbling startup community happening. I am spending more time in India and China. I can have an ad hoc jam pad, it's about people with ideas. The term Jam is a used by Jazz musicians which is ad hoc improvisation around music. When you do it with ideas and you do it with Entrepreneurs it's about what next. It could be solving any problem.- how to get funded? Make my first sale.. it's about creating problem solving... solving problems between idea and making it reality. Entrepreneurship is about creative problem-solving.

17.2. Uber's Indian innovations go worldwide

TNN | Sep. 24, 2015 | By Anand J

Bengaluru: For the world's biggest cab player Uber, India has been home to a number of successful innovations, some of which have forced the venture to alter its basic tenets. Now, Uber is taking these learnings to other countries including Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, Kenya and Vietnam.

The innovations, often the result of challenges the Indian market posed, include acceptance of cash, use of mobile wallets, introduction of the SOS safety feature, the concept of UberGo (lower-end cars) and most recently Wi-Fi in cabs.

"Apart from being the second biggest priority market for us, India is also an innovation hub and learning ground for Uber. When a process innovation is introduced, it leads to a product innovation as well that can be taken to other markets," said Karun Arya, Uber spokesperson for South East Asia and India. Uber headquarters initially opposed the idea of introducing cash payments because it necessitated changes in the way the Uber app was designed and complicated the process for both drivers and consumers. But when the pilot project in Hyderabad saw 80% users preferring cash, the top management was convinced. Now the cash option is available in Nairobi and Vietnam and is expected to be introduced in several other global cities.

"We knew that cash was essential for us to scale in India," said Arya. Rival Ola always had the option, one reason why it has a much bigger share of the Indian market today. The mobile wallet innovation was forced on Uber by an RBI mandate that required two-factor authentication for credit card payments. Since introduction of two-factor authentication would have complicated the customer experience, Uber opted for the Paytm wallet, which remained the only payment option for several months.

UberGo, which uses hatchback cars, was developed in India as the segment constituted the mass market here. Most competitors were already offering hatchbacks. That product is now available also in Turkey.

The alleged rape last year by an Uber cab driver in Delhi that shook the cab industry forced Uber and others to introduce safety features in the app. Uber used a solution from a Delhi startup called SafetiPin that alerts the cab operator and police by sending out an SOS during a crisis. This was done six months ago. On September 17, Uber announced a global partnership with SafetiPin that expanded its reach to some 50 cities, including cities in Africa, South America and Asia.

Wi-Fi in cabs was first a pilot project in Mumbai a month ago. Now it is being expanded to all other Indian cities, as also to Manila in the Philippines.

Uber has its largest network outside of the US in India with more than 1.65 lakh drivers and operations across 22 cities. Uber has a product development team that looks at cross-border learnings and best practices from different city markets. "We always knew the potential of growth in India and we experiment with India first for many emerging market solutions. While being a global company, we have always seen the business city by city," said Arya.

17.3. Kotak rolls out mobile banking app with no Internet

PTI | Oct. 13, 2015

KMB is India's first bank to achieve this distinction, which encourages cashless transactions by enabling customers to transfer up to Rs 2,500 per day and at a time.

Bengaluru: Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on Tuesday announced the launch of Kotak Bharat app in Kannada, a mobile solution that requires no Internet connectivity, as part of its inclusive digital banking philosophy.

KMB is India's first bank to achieve this distinction, which encourages cashless transactions by enabling customers to transfer up to Rs 2,500 per day and at a time, it said.

The process of funds transfer is simple and totally secure as the transaction can only be initiated from the customer's registered mobile number, KMB said in a release. Furthermore, the customer will get a confirmatory SMS on the registered mobile number, which is encrypted, and hence cannot be tampered with, it said.

Kotak Bharat will enable customers to manage their savings and current accounts as well as credit cards. It is currently available in Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada, and will soon be released in other Indian languages, the release said.

Customers can manage their bank accounts and also use the app for a range of services, including recharging mobile and DTH services, linking Aadhaar number to the bank account, finding Kotak ATMs and branches, applying for Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (life insurance)/Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (accident insurance) schemes, it said.

18.1. Multi-billion dollar opportunity awaits India IT companies

ET Bureau | Aug. 31, 2015 | By Anirban Sen

Bengaluru: Several outsourcing contracts worth at least $1 billion (about Rs 6,500 crore) each from companies such as US retailer Gap and British telecom firm Vodafone are coming up for renewal over the next one year, providing an opportunity to home-grown software exporters such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys to grab the deals from incumbent multinational rivals such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard and further increase market share over these companies.

According to data from outsourcing advisory ISG, at least six such deals are set to expire in 2016. Further, another nine deals with a total contract value of at least $500 million each from customers such as ArcelorMittal and BAE Systems will also come up for renewal during this period.

According to the report, about $250 billion worth of deals are set to be renewed over the course of the next 36 months.

"The increasing number of contract expirations each year directly results from specific market trends. We've seen the number of outsourcing transactions increase dramatically over time. At the same time the average duration of contracts has declined. As a consequence, contract expirations are occurring at a faster rate," said Dinesh Goel, partner and India head at ISG.

Even as IBM and HP are expected to strive to renew these contracts, India's top outsourcing firms fancy their chances, having already grabbed significant market share from their multinational rivals over the past five 

According to another ISG report, Indian IT firms increased their share of the market to 27.1% during JanuaryJune, from 23.6% a year ago. This gain came at the cost of European rivals such as Capgemini and Atos, according to the report.

Executives from both Indian and multinational firms are currently eyeing Vodafone's $1 billion contract with IBM which is set to expire early next year. Preliminary discussions to renew the contract have already started, according to executives involved in the deal.

"There is no question that incumbency isn't what it used to be - the non-incumbent win rate on competitive restructuring and renewal deals stands at over 60%," said Goel. "India-heritage firms have been the significant beneficiaries of this trend as a winning provider. But going forward, they have their own turf to protect as an incumbent provider of large expiring deals."

Indian IT firms have aggressively snatched large contracts by adopting tactics such as heavy upfront payments while bidding for large billion-dollar outsourcing deals and also using price to undercut rivals.

At a time when investors are worried about the economic slowdown in China triggering a global meltdown and with technology spending set to drop at least 5.5% this year, India's top IT services firms will chase these upcoming deals even more aggressively, executives said.

18.2. Indian IT companies among world's worst paymasters

PTI | Sep. 22, 2015

New Delhi: Indian IT companies are among the 10 worst paymasters in the world, says a survey -a midlevel IT manager draws an average salary of $41,213 while his Swiss counterpart gets over four times more.

According to recruitment platform MyHiringClub.com's Worldwide IT Salary 2015 survey, India was ranked 7th on the list of lowest paymasters for information technology (IT) managers, down by one position from last year's.

While Indian IT managers drew an average salary of $41,213, Bulgaria topped the list with a meagre $25,680, followed by Vietnam and Thailand averaging at $30,938 and $34,423, respectively. "The impact of outsourcing and off-shoring on IT and the IT roles in North America and Western Europe helps explain the pattern of global pay," MyHiringClub.com & FlikJobs.com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

The list includes Indonesia at the fourth spot with average wages of $34,780, followed by the Philippines ($37,534), India ($41,213), China ($42,689), Czech Republic ($43,219), and Argentina ($51,380).

"Lower-level roles are being moved to regions where talent is cheaper. The jobs that remain in Western Europe and the United States may be fewer in number, but are more demanding and complex. However, there is an increasing evidence of India's growing stature and presence in the high-end value chain, where cost advantages may not be the only drivers of future growth," Ku mar added.

At the other end of the spectrum, when it comes to countries that pay out the best IT salaries, Switzerland again topped the list with an average annual remuneration of $1,71,465. The same job if taken in Belgium, second on the list, would fetch $152,430, the survey said.

Denmark came in at third on the best-paying list, with salary in the IT sector averaging at $138,920. The US and he UK were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with average packages of $132,877 and $129,324, respectively.

"India remains one of the most favourite outsourcing destinations due to this low cost factor, but the future might bring with itself a completely different scenario," the survey predicted. The survey compared the two annual cash compensation and total remuneration information of the mid-career level for IT staff at 9,413 companies across 40 different countries between August 1 to August 31, 2015.

18.3. ICICI Bank launches mVisa-based mobile payment service

TNN | Oct. 8, 2015 | By M Allirajan

Coimbatore: ICICI Bank has announced the launch of a service that enables customers to make electronic payments from their smartphones at traditional stores, e-commerce sites, deliveries made at home, radio taxi and utility bills among others.

To start with, this facility has been introduced in Bengaluru with 1,500 merchants. The bank said it will shortly extend it to other cities as well.

The service is based on 'mVisa', a new mobile payment solution from Visa. ICICI Bank said it is the first bank globally to launch a mobile app based 'mVisa' solution for consumers and merchants. With this service, users of 'Pockets' app can make cashless payments from their smartphones using their debit card by simply scanning a 'mVisa' quick response (QR) code at a merchant location without swiping the card at an EDC machine.

The service provides customers the convenience of speed to complete a transaction along with enhanced security as the card remains in possession of the customer. To use this facility, a customer is simply required to click on the 'mVisa' icon on the home screen of the 'Pockets' app.

The app automatically activates the camera in the phone, allowing customers to scan the QR code and enter their debit card PIN.

"We have always leveraged technology to introduce digital innovations and provide a world-class banking experience to our customers," said Rajiv Sabharwal, executive director, ICICI Bank.

"Many of these were firsts in the industry like internet, mobile, tab and touch banking among others," he stated.

"While there are 570 million debit cards in the country, there are only 1.1 million point-of-sale (POS) machines available for card payments. This restricts cashless payments to be made only at a certain category of merchants," Sabharwal said.

"We believe that the simplicity of this technology will allow us to address this market gap and enable digital payments for an array of untapped categories such as home deliveries, cab services, and small merchants," he said.

"We believe that this solution will herald a shift in the adoption of electronic payments in the country," he stated.

"The mVisa solution will enable consumers to engage in secure and convenient payments, and more easily access funds in their existing bank accounts to make everyday purchases and pay utility bills," said TR Ramachandran, Visa group country manager, India and South Asia.

19.1. IndiGo named CAPA low cost carrier of the year at World Aviation Summit

TNN | Oct. 8, 2015 | By Subhro Niyogi

Kolkata: IndiGo Airlines has won the CAPA Low Cost Carrier of the Year award at the 2015 CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence held in Helsinki. IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh received the award from Centre for Aviation (CAPA) executive chairman Peter Harbison.

The carrier was selected by the judging panel for its ability to thrive in an extremely challenging market. The judges were particularly impressed by IndiGo's leadership team.

In its thirteenth year, CAPA's Aviation Awards for Excellence is one of the most prestigious accolades in airline industry and are a global benchmark for airline excellence. The awards are intended to reward airlines and airports that are not only successful but have also provided industry leadership in an always changing environment. Only eight awards were given out this year.

Congratulating IndiGo, Harbison said, "In less than 10 years, IndiGo has grown to become India's largest domestic airline with a market share of close to 40%. Despite operating in a very challenging market, IndiGo has consistently reported profits for each of the last seven years, including a record profit in FY2015. Over the same period India's airlines combined have lost in excess of $10 billion."

Delighted on receiving the award, Aditya Ghosh, president, IndiGo said: "This award holds special significance as it is a recognition of our continued focus towards building a sustainable and growing air transportation network that provides a reliable and consistently high quality offering at lower costs. We are humbled by this recognition and express our gratitude to the esteemed jury. I accept this award on behalf of each and every member of my team at IndiGo, whose passion and commitment are the key reasons for making us who we are and who make my job one of the best jobs in the world. We take pride in putting India on the global aviation map. We still have a long way to go and we feel we are far from perfect but we do try very hard each day to compete with ourselves and make it just a little better."

19.2. Delhi airport handles record flights

Business Standard | Oct. 16, 2015

Mumbai: Delhi airport handled 1,044 flights, the highest till date, on Wednesday as airlines add new frequencies.

Before Wednesday the highest number of daily movements at Delhi was in the aftermath of Nepal earthquake in April (1,026 flights) and on India-Pakistan cricket world cup match day in April 2011 (1022 flights). This is also the highest number of flights handled daily by any airport in India. On an average Delhi airport handles about 950 flights daily with about 74 hourly movements. Mumbai airport which is the second busiest in the country handles about 820 flights daily with an average 40 movements each hour.

"Of the 1,044 flights, 70 were of charter and private planes and 17 belonged to military aircraft and helicopters. The rest were scheduled airline movements," an air traffic official said. Delhi International Airport Limited did not respond to a query on the topic. Delhi handled 41 million passengers last year. Sixty seven percent of the passenger traffic was domestic (27.5 million) and the rest was international traffic.

Delhi Airport has three runways and all three of them are in operation simultaneously. One of them (number 29) is used for both dual use - arrivals and departures. Of the other two runways one is used for arrival (number 27) and another departure (number 28). Air traffic controllers maintain a three mile separation between departing and arriving planes in the vicinity of the airport.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

20.1. Apollo Hospitals invests Rs 1,400 crore for expansion

PTI | Oct. 3, 2015

Hyderabad: Apollo Hospitals is currently investing Rs 1,400 crore for setting up four hospitals, a few clinics and homecare services in the country.

"The four hospitals will come up in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam," joint MD Apollo hospitals, Sangita Reddy, said.

"It was Rs 1,400 crore investment including the Guwahati facility (besides three other hospitals) and Homecare investments made in clinics during last year," Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of Apollo Homecare operations here.

Earlier, group chairman Prathap C Reddy said Apollo Hospitals currently has 9,000 beds and is expected to cross 10,000 once the new hospitals commence operations in a few months.

"Currently, the debt-equity ratio is in a comfortable position. All the new hospitals are funded through the internal accruals. If we go for new hospitals after this, then we may look for funding from outside," Prathap C Reddy said when asked about the funding of the hospitals.

According to him, the investment for Mumbai hospital is Rs 550 crore while Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam facilities will cost Rs 150 crore and Rs 170 crore, respectively.

Meanwhile, Apollo today launched Homecare operations in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi.

"The services will be offered in all Tier-I cities and 13 Tier-II cities during next year and will target 1,00,000 lives in the first year of operations," CEO Apollo Homecare, Mahesh Joshi said.

Apollo Homecare offers personalised services to elderly, chronically ill patients, post-surgery recovery patients, he added.

20.2.1. Micro Labs launches pill made from papaya leaf extract to treat dengue

TNN | Sep. 30, 2015 | By U Tejonmayam

Chennai: Micro Labs Limited, a Bengaluru-based pharmaceutical company, on Wednesday launched Caripill, made from carica papaya leaf extracts, to help increase platelet count in patients suffering from dengue.

Approved by the scientific and regulatory authority, the pill does not have any side-effects. While the conventional treatment involves platelet transfusion, a Caripill of 1100mg can be taken three times a day, for five days. Each pill costs Rs 25.

Dengue fever virus, which are in five different strains transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito, can destruct platelets in the blood and can lead to bleeding.

Over 2,000 dengue cases were reported in Tamil Nadu this year.

Taking at the launch here, senior medical advisor of Micro Labs Dr Prabhu said people made papaya leaf extract at home to treat dengue. However, the quantity of consumption varies and so its preparation. "At home, it is a crude form of consumption. But if it is not hygienically prepared, it can lead to diarrhea. The dosage is not the same and it is also not palatable," he said.

Studies across the globe have shown consumption of papaya leaf extract to have positive effect on the platelet count, the medical advisor said.

Senior vice-president P Jawahar Babu said they conducted a pilot study on 30 patients where they were each given three pills for five days and got encouraging results. "We are now conducting an extensive study with 250 patients," he said.

While the pill is available in the market, Micro Labs will soon launch a syrup for children, aged above six.

20.2.2. Cipla ties up with Serum Institute to sell vaccines in South Africa

Reuters | Oct. 8, 2015

Mumbai: Cipla Ltd, India's fourth-largest drugmaker by sales, said on Thursday it had agreed to an exclusive deal with Serum Institute of India to supply vaccines to South Africa, adding a new market to their partnership in India and Europe.

Cipla's unit Cipla Medpro, South Africa's third-largest drugs manufacturer, will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing of the vaccines under the deal terms, Cipla said in a statement to exchanges.

The deal is Cipla's second in as many months. In September, the company said it was buying two US generics businesses in deals worth $550 million, following rivals with a push to enhance its presence in the world's largest generics market.

The Indian billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of Serum, which is the world's largest maker of vaccines by volume, told local media in February that he had held talks with Cipla for a merger between the companies.

He said at the time that the companies could "take things forward" if their partnership on vaccines in Europe, struck in November 2014, was a success.

20.3. Healthcare providers in India to spend $1.2 billion on IT in 2015: Gartner

TNN | Sep. 28, 2015 | By Rupali Mukherjee

Mumbai: Healthcare providers in India are expected to spend $1.2 billion on IT products and services in 2015, an increase of 7% over 2014, according to Gartner Inc. This forecast includes spending by healthcare providers (includes hospitals, as well as ambulatory service and physicians practices) on internal services, software, IT services, data centre, devices and telecom services.

"IT services, which includes consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), will be the largest overall spending category throughout the forecast period within the healthcare providers sector," said Anurag Gupta, research vice-president at Gartner.

"It is expected to reach $334 million in 2015, growing 7% over 2014. The BPO sub-segment will record the fastest growth rate of 15% over 2014. ITO will be the largest sub-segment in IT services recording a 10% increase in 2015 to reach $103 million in 2015."

The software market will grow 6.7% in 2015 to reach $102 million, up from $96 million in 2014. Vertical specific software (VSS), which includes hospital information system, electronic health/ medical records, health information management, patient financial management, and more, will grow 6% in 2015 to reach $28 million.

"The growth in the Indian healthcare ICT market will be driven by the private sector mainly focusing in tertiary specialized care, secondary hospital care and the government investments on core public health and primary care across several states," said Gupta.

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. India to invest heavily in Iran, mega projects to cost Rs 1 lakh crore ($16 bn)

PTI | Sep. 23, 2015

New Delhi: Iran has offered to supply natural gas at $2.95 per million British thermal unit for a urea plant that India will set up at Chabahar port on the Persian Gulf, but New Delhi wants rates to be lowered.

With the US and other western powers easing sanctions against Iran, India has been in talks with Tehran to set up a gas-based urea manufacturing plant at the Chabahar port, besides developing a gas discovery ONGC had made.

The total investment in the projects will be around Rs 1,00,000 crore, road transport, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

Asked about the development of the port, he said: "Various ministries will give their report by September 28, based on which a final decision will be taken. India is ready to invest more than Rs 1 lakh crore, but that depends on negotiations with Iran."

Iran seeks $8 billion Indian investments

On talks on supply of natural gas, Gadkari further said: "Iran is offering gas to India at $2.95 per mmBtu to set up urea plant at the Chabahar port in Iran. India is negotiating the gas price and has demanded it at $1.5 per mmBtu rate."

The rate offered by Iran is less than half the rate at which India currently imports natural gas from the spot or current market. Long-term supplies from Qatar cost four-times the Iranian price.

India, which imports around 8-9 million tonnes of the nitrogenous fertilizer, is negotiating for a price of $1.5 per mmBtu with the Persian Gulf nation in a move which if successful will see a significant decline in the country's Rs 80,000 crore subsidy for the soil nutrient.

Iran says it offers India bigger role in strategic port

India has already pledged to invest about $85 million in developing the strategic port off Iran's southeastern coast, which would provide India a sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

"India is ready to make huge investments in Iran. If urea plant is set up, it will result in slashing of urea prices in India by 50 per cent and cut on huge subsidy on urea, which is Rs 80,000 crore," he added.

Earlier this month, Gadkari said: "I had been to Iran and we are trying to procure gas at a very economical rate. In 2013, they had offered it at the rate of 82 cents, less than a dollar. We make urea from naphtha. We are trying to set up a urea plant in Iran."

Ministries of chemical & fertilizer and petroleum are working on the proposed 1.3 million tonnes per annum plant, which once successful will led to urea prices coming down by 50 per cent, he had said then.

Can't forget support India gave us during difficult times, Iran says

The minister had visited Tehran in May, and both the nations had inked a pact to develop the Chabahar port. Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had also called on Gadkari last month.

In August, Gadkari said Iran has given "very good offers" to India to develop the integrated Chabahar port, which has a special economic zone (SEZ).

21.2. India, Iran and Afghanistan come together for international transit corridor

TNN | Sep. 24, 2015 | By Sachin Parashar

India is looking to step up the pedal over its ambitious Chabahar port project in Iran by signing an international transit corridor agreement with Iran and Afghanistan.

One of the reasons why the port project is important for India as it will facilitate access to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. Over the past 2 days, officials from the 3 countries have met to finalize agreement for a Chabahar transit corridor.

India, Iran sign pact on developing Chabahar port

"We are looking at a trilateral transit corridor MoU," India's ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha told TOI.

While India and Iran are developing the Chabahar port jointly, Sinha said, Afghan businesses are investing in the attached free trade zone where Iran has allotted land for Afghan investors.

For India, Chabahar port is an important initiative involving three partners, and is a critical alternate trade route for Afghanistan. What came as a shot in the arm for India was that the port was welcomed by all regional partners of Afghanistan at the VI RECCA (Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan) conference held in Kabul on September 4.

The transit corridor will be significant for Afghanistan too with President Ashraf Ghani declaring that his country wants to revitalize the Silk Road and act as a regional hub for connecting South Asia with Central Asia.

Indian officials said though that the primary motivation for the port and transit corridor was not bypassing Pakistan. We are actually hoping that Pakistan too at some stage will join all trade and transit agreements being negotiated under Saarc by all other member nations?," said an Indian official.

Govt. mulling whether to take up entire work on Chabahar port

After the latest round of talks for the corridor, Azer News quoted Iran officials as saying that along with other international corridors -- the North-South ITC, the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran road corridor, and the so-called Ashgabat agreement on international transportation signed by Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman -- the construction of the Iran-India-Afghanistan international transit corridor will not only promote the development of regional trade, but also will be an important historical event.

India and Iran have already signed an MoU for the Chabahar port and it is likely to become operational by the end of next year.

The talks for trilateral transit corridor had started in 2013. Afghanistan is looking at the Chabahar port and the trilateral transit corridor to reduce its dependence on Pakistan.

India and Iran want to increase the Chabahar port capacity from the current 2.5 million tonnes per year to 12.5 million tonnes per year.

22.1. Bajaj quadricycle gets EU export certification

Business Standard | Sep. 24, 2015

Mumbai: While the India launch of quadricycle remains uncertain Pune-based Bajaj Auto has secured the certification from Europe and will be now eligible to export its RE60 to those countries.

The quadricycle RE60, which is indigenously developed by Bajaj Auto, has been certified under the European Whole Vehicle Type Approval (EU WVTA) regulations, after having passed all tests successfully. The certification was done by Bengaluru headquartered TUV Rheinland India, a subsidiary of the Germany based TUV Rheinland group and a leader in testing, inspection, certification and training.

With this certification by TUV Rheinland India, Bajaj RE60 will now be eligible for exports to Europe and also many other countries that recognise the EU WVTA standard, without the need for any further tests. The EU WVTA Regulations are one of the world's most matured and advanced in terms of stringent environmental standards for exhaust emission, noise emission, electro-magnetic radiation and high level of safety requirements for braking, lighting, exterior projection, safety belts and anchorages.

Abraham Joseph, Chief Technology Officer, Bajaj Auto said: "These EU WVTA regulations are one of the world's toughest in terms of 'Safety & Environment'. The project was quite challenging and full credit for the successful certification to the untiring efforts of TUV Rheinland engineers, who are qualified and authorised by the European Approval Authorities [Ministry of Transport] to conduct the vehicle & component tests in India."

Hemant Desai, Country Head, Mobility Division, TUV Rheinland India, said: "The EU WVTA approval process also involves testing and certification at the component level for safety critical items like safety belts, lights, mirrors, safety glazings, horns etc. Apart from the initial Type Approval Certification, the regulations also focus on the conformity of production in manufacturing and deployment of quality management systems." 

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

22.2. Bajaj eyes Russian market, begins export of Pulsar

Business Standard | Sep. 29, 2015

New Delhi: Bajaj Auto, India’s largest two-wheeler exporter plans to enter the Russian market with its Pulsar range of motorcycles. Bajaj will be the first Indian company to export a mass market motorcycle to Russia. Eicher, which manufactures middleweight motorcycle, is the only domestic player exporting two-wheelers to Russia.

Bajaj recently shipped a few containers of the Pulsar to Russia. “We found the Russian market to have a good potential and found a good local partner to be the country-wide distributor. The distributor is developing the channel to market and service two-wheelers”, said S Ravikumar, president (business development and assurance) at Bajaj Auto.

Bajaj Auto exported 1.52 million two-wheelers in FY15, registering a 15 per cent growth over the previous year, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The company is India’s largest exporter with a market share of 62 per cent in exports of 2.45 million units. The country’s export of twowheelers grew 6.6 per cent to 1.11 million units in the April-August period of the current financial year, of which Bajaj shipped 61 per cent. The other leading exporters are TVS Motor Company, Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooters. The big markets are countries in south-east Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin and Central America.

Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler, recently inaugurated its first overseas manufacturing unit in Columbia that had been set up at an investment of $38 million. The unit will produce 80,000 units initially and could be expanded to 150,000 units.

Bajaj, which exports to 55 countries, has no such plans as of now. “In the export market, our product goes as a kit and assembled locally. To the extent it makes a cost effective sense, we will continue to follow this strategy”, added Ravikumar.

Bajaj exports Boxer for the developing markets, where affordable mobility is the need. In advanced markets such as Europe and Japan, products made jointly by Bajaj and KTM in India are exported to KTM and is sold in the developed markets.

According to Ravikumar, Bajaj Auto exports two-wheelers to 55 countries. “In most of the countries where we export, we are either number one or two. In all African markets, Boxer is the leading motorcycle brand.” Indian players have succeeded in capturing a sizeable chunk of the two-wheeler market in regions such as Africa, which used to be dominated by Chinese products a decade ago. “In Africa, we started with a discount to Chinese product. Now, we are selling at 40 per cent premium to Chinese products,” said Ravikumar.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

23.1. Malaysia proposes to invest US$ 30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India 

Economic Times | Oct. 16, 2015

New Delhi: The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia has proposed to invest $30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India.

A 30 member strong business delegation that was headed by Malaysia's Minister of Works Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof met India's union urban development and housing & urban poverty alleviation minister Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi and held detailed discussions.

CIDB officials made presentations to Naidu and senior ministry officials on concept plans for two proposed projects. Redevelopment of New Delhi Railway Station's adjoining area as a mini-smart city is proposed to be tak

CIDB also proposed to take up a green city project at Garhmukhteshwar in Uttar Pradesh involving housing and Ganga cleaning projects with an investment of about $4 billion. Indian government body National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) will be associated with these projects.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

23.2. Bilateral trade between Thailand, India expected to reach US$ 12 billion

IBEF | Sep. 23, 2015

New Delhi: Bilateral trade between Thailand and India is expected to reach US$ 12 billion in 2015 as compared to US$ 8 billion last year, said Somsak Triamjangarun, Consul General of the Royal Thai Consulate General in an interactive meeting organised by the Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTAPCCI). He further added that last year, Thailand had a trade surplus of US$ 2 billion with India.

Majority of exports to India from Thailand are Chemical Products, Polymers of ethylene, propylene, etc. in primary forms, precious stones and jewellery, air-conditioning machines and parts among others. Thailand imports from India include chemicals, ships, boats and floating structures, parts & accessories of vehicles, machinery and spare parts, jewellery including silver bars and gold, vegetables and vegetable products.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

24.1. Indo-US bilateral trade can touch USD 500 bn by 2025: Report

PTI | Sep. 28, 2015

Mumbai: With India emerging as the most sought after developing market and an important partner for the US, the bilateral trade between the two countries is likely to touch USD 500 billion by 2025, a recent survey said.

According to a survey conducted by PwC and Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), trade between the two countries has the potential to grow up to USD 500 billion through concerned efforts from all stakeholders -- government leaders and investors, corporates, businesses and entrepreneurs.

"India continues to emerge as one of the most important markets in the developing world and an important trading partner for the US. This is evident by the four-fold growth in the India-US trade since 2006 to 100 billion USD in 2014," PwC India Strategy Consulting leader Shashank Tripathi said. He said the drivers to achieve this trade growth would be the five key sectors including aerospace and defence (A&D), infrastructure and logistics, energy, manufacturing and services.

"These sectors are of the utmost importance to the Indo-US relationship. In each of these sectors, in addition to the facilitation of trade by the government, the corporate sector can lead the way into the evolving trade relationships," Tripathi said.

The report further said enormous headroom exists to unshackle the real potential of the trade and strengthen strategic relationship between the two nations through trade.

"This is increasingly important, since in the new world order, economic interests drive strategic partnerships to the mutual benefit of the world's largest and oldest democracies. The two nations should initiate more trade missions and remove barriers that affect the trade and investment among other initiatives from the government and corporates," he added.

24.2. What’s New in the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue

Sep. 23, 2015 | By Alyssa Ayres

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry participates with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj (L) and U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker (R) at the U.S-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue plenary session at the State Department in Washington on September 22, 2015 (Gary Cameron/Reuters).

Yesterday U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker co-convened, with their Indian counterparts External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Minister of State Nirmala Sitharaman, the new U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD). India and the United States have been convening a strategic dialogue since 2010, so the change this year elevated discussion of economic and commercial issues to the cabinet level alongside the central matters of security and global diplomatic concerns.

Economic issues were always part of the previous strategic dialogues with India—I staffed three of them from 2011 to 2013 so can attest—but in raising this set of bilateral issues to the cabinet level, and by including the commercial agencies on both sides, the new structure signals a higher level of importance for economic and commercial matters. It also, notably, revises the structure of the dialogue to parallel the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. That change was lost on no one, and Minister Swaraj expressly invoked it during the press conference which followed the dialogue. The U.S.-India economic relationship may be one-sixth the size of U.S.-China, but the dialogues now look similar.

Based on the joint statement, joint press conference, and numerous fact sheets released following the dialogue, here’s a selective overview of what’s new—and what didn’t make it to the press releases—from the discussions.

1. More talking: India and the United States agreed to formalize new consultations in several areas. (Some of these had taken place previously either at other levels, or without being officially institutionalized.) The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken will lead a new “High Level Consultation” with India’s Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar. A new “Policy Planning Dialogue” will begin. Talk has begun about a new “Oceans Dialogue.” There will be a new “Track 1.5” (involving government as well as participants from outside government) on Internet and cyber issues. Diplomats from each country will spend time at each other’s training centers. There will be a new “joint work stream” on the ease of doing business.

2. New areas of formal cooperation: Building on longstanding consultations on peacekeeping, and success in joint training for third countries in subjects like agriculture and technology, India and the United States will together train UN peacekeepers from six African countries. An agriculture biotechnology group has been set up to facilitate research in this area. There are plans for a formal memorandum of understanding on “Energy Security, Clean Energy, and Climate Change.” There’s a new memorandum of understanding to tackle wildlife trafficking, with a special mention of support for India’s Project Tiger anti-poaching effort. There’s a new private sector-led initiative focused on standards to help ease trade.

3. More expansive public concern on terrorism: A separate joint declaration issued on countering terrorism highlights Washington and New Delhi’s shared terrorism concerns. Previously, language on combatting terrorism had been included in joint statements themselves, but admittedly given the several thousand words comprising such documents, it was just one part of many. The separate statement underscores shared worries about al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, DCompany, and the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The statement also condemns two recent terrorist attacks in India (in Gurdaspur and Udhampur). It also references “continuing efforts to finalize a bilateral agreement to expand intelligence sharing and terrorist watch-list information.”

4. More activities on esoteric topics: It’s often surprising to read a roster of the U.S.-India cooperation underway that exists off the high-diplomacy radar screen. The areas of science and technology have long been the most quietly productive, and least controversial, parts of the U.S.-India relationship. Following the U.S. export control reforms of 2010, the kinds of technology cooperation permitted has expanded further, including in subjects like high-energy physics. A readthrough of the current bilateral cooperation includes references to launching U.S. components on Indian space launch vehicles; mental health; traditional medicine; work on a High-Intensity Superconducting Proton Accelerator; new research on Smart Grids; more joint research between Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory with the Bhabha Atomic Research Center and the Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced Technology; more monsoon and climate research in the Indian Ocean, plus “deep core samples of the seabed” analysis. There will be new health cooperation on environmental and occupational health, cancer, and antimicrobial resistance, building on joint work on rotavirus, Ebola, and other global health topics announced earlier this year. Commercially, a new exchange on “Technical Textiles” will be launched.

What’s missing: Neither the joint statement nor the fact sheet on economic cooperation mentioned India’s interest in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum membership, something included in the January “Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.” During the press conference, Minister Swaraj said that “Secretary Kerry and I agreed to work towards forming India’s membership of APEC” but similar statements appear nowhere else. On the long-pending bilateral investment treaty (BIT) process, the economic cooperation fact sheet merely references plans to “continue discussions to assess the prospects for a high standard BIT.” I am afraid this weak gruel provides little to suggest any near-term progress on this small but symbolic agreement.

Also missing was any announcement of defense sales like those appearing in the press about the Indian military’s likely procurement of Boeing Apache and Chinook helicopters. These sales will likely be formally announced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama meet next week.

Commercial civil nuclear cooperation does not appear in the joint statement, the commercial and trade cooperation fact sheet, or the energy, climate, environment, and science cooperation document, either.

Finally, though the joint declaration on counterterrorism includes reference to the “serious threat posed by ISIL/Da’esh,” I was struck by what transpired in the press conference. A journalist asked Secretary Kerry about developments in Syria and Russian military activity. Kerry’s answer, extending seven paragraphs on that section of the question, had no reference whatsoever to India—a reminder that despite deepening Indo-U.S. partnership in some parts of the world, that cooperation isn’t yet in some of the hottest hot spots for U.S. foreign policy.

25. World Bank to extend funds to improve sub-urban train services

IBEF | Sep. 23, 2015

Mumbai: World Bank Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Mr Mulyani Indrawati announced that World Bank will extend its support to improve the railway infrastructure in Mumbai aiming at improving basic sanitation facilities on stations, safety and security, and increasing the frequency of services. He further said that Narendra Modi government has given priority to develop railway infrastructure and the World Bank will continue to support the initiative. There are three local lines namely the Western, Central, and Harbour lines which together carry more than 10 million passengers a day, making the lifeline of the commercial capital that is home to about 19 million people.

The state government has undertaken Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), which aims to improve the road and rail transportation network in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and is being implemented with World Bank assistance and central and state Governments contributions. It was launched in 2007 and the phase one of the project (MUTP 1) worth Rs 4,526 crore (US$ 685.7 million) was completed in 2011 with a series of implemented projects. The Rs 7,006 crore (US$ 1.06 billion) MUTP 2 is under implementation.

The MUTP 3, which is estimated to cost Rs 52,000 crore (US$ 7.87 billion), was sanctioned in 2011 and is targeted for completion in 2031. Under MUTP 1 and 2, a series of projects were initiated, including additional railway lines, new high-speed coaches and rakes, capacity enhancing, road over-bridges and foot over-bridges, improving railway stations with better access-exit points, spreading the sub-urban rail network to new satellite towns and cities in the metropolis.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

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